Ashes to Ashes
by Maniac345
Summary: Rex attempts to find the cause of Providence's utter destruction. (Sequel to Trapped in Abysus)
1. Chapter 1

**(Hey, y'all. I left loose ends in that last fic, but I ended it because more than one main plot in a story is unorganized. It wouldn't flow properly. I'm still a developing writer, so I miss a few things. But anyway, I'll hopefully be addressing those loose ends, so here's the sequel! Once again, I own nothing in the series.)  
**  
Boredom.

Rex reclined in a library chair, a pile of books sitting on the table next to him. Van Kleiss had suggested reading them for education, but that was the last thing he planned to do. Instead, he scrolled through his phone- due to incessant nagging, he'd gotten a new one- and browsed random articles. After all, he had the freedom to do so.

He was healthy again.

It had been three weeks since the rabies cure, and the farther that remained in his past, the better. He'd had no hallucinations since then, which was a very good sign. The virus had been eradicated due to the machine's efforts, and Rex had successfully resumed his new life. It wasn't completely satisfactory by any means, but it was better than being beaten to death on the streets. Abysus _wasn't_ a home- he preferred to think of it as a temporary lodging, no matter what the king said.

Sighing at the blandness of the newsfeed, he tugged at his collar.

His enemy had forced him to wear the contraption around his neck, claiming that it was perfectly safe. It served to cancel his powers whenever the older EVO saw fit- usually in circumstances where Rex was purposefully lashing out in rage. Currently, the device was turned off, and the boy had full range of all his abilities. It seemed strange to live in a reality where his own powers were controlled by someone else, but it was preferable to being robbed of them completely.

But while he was physically alright, the same could not be said for his mentality.

He'd spent weeks crying his heart out over Holiday, Six, and Bobo's collective deaths, having finally accepted that they were gone forever. Van Kleiss, thankfully, merely left him in his room to sob, unwilling to disturb him. In fact, after one particularly actually dreadful fit, the man had told him that it was actually quite satisfying to hear his misery. Rex, furious and tearful, had been ready to kick him in the jaw, but less so when it was explained to him that it was regarding his acceptance of reality. According to the king, even if Rex was wailing for nights on end, it was a good sign that he was finally letting go.

Whether that was a strange attempt to make him feel better or simply depress him even more, Rex didn't quite know. But for that anxious moment, it had calmed him down somewhat.

He really _did_ need to move on.

Cats, car crashes, and corrupt politicians. The news seemed to be the same these days, always complaining or overdramatizing world events. Yet however nonsensical he found the titles, they served to distract him and make him feel better. For the past couple days, he'd been starting to cry a little bit less, and distracting himself proved to be helpful. Instead of drowning in his misery _all_ hours of the day, by now, it had been reduced to only indulging in it at night.

Oddly enough, no one was being cruel about it. Van Kleiss, Biowulf, and Breach kept their distance when he launched into his agonizing episodes, letting him tire himself out without interruption.

Though he tried to forget his family's deaths, pesky memories still lingered in his mind. Once, he'd even went back into the room with the giant screen and played the footage of the explosion, morbidly curious about the details. The scene had been just as gut wrenching, especially now that he knew it was truly real.

That night had ended with Biowulf finding him sobbing wretchedly over the keyboard.

But no matter what Van Kleiss told him about the necessity of letting his emotions heal, Rex had a nagging feeling it wasn't the solution. He wasn't satisfied without knowing _how_ they died. True, it was an explosion he'd seen with his very eyes, but the _cause_ of it was something he craved to understand.

Was it the king?

The teen had kept that thought in the back of his mind whenever he buried himself under his sheets and cried himself to sleep, but lately, the idea was becoming more and more prominent. For fear of being correct, he hadn't had the guts to ask the older EVO if he'd destroyed his home. The teen had simply been too afraid to insinuate the idea for fear of being thrown into a dungeon.

But no matter what the answer was, today was the day he'd finally bring the topic up.

He deserved to know the truth.

Standing up and stretching, he placed his phone in his pocket and made his way out of the library. A sense of dread filled his mind as he walked down the halls to take the appropriate twists and turns to reach the throne room. Rex wondered if even _asking_ permitted any sort of punishment, but shooed the notion away- after all, everyone was especially careful not to tread on his emotions until he fully recovered.

Van Kleiss sat upon the stone throne in the far back of the giant room, immediately visible once Rex entered. Biowulf stood by the side as his Master typed various things into a laptop, seemingly bored. The two of them glanced up at the young EVO, surprised to see him.

"Do I get beat up for asking questions?" Rex asked, standing a safe distance from them. "I really need to know."

"That's an odd way of starting a conversation," the king remarked. "Frankly, I thought you were asleep. No, you won't get hurt for asking anything. Pain only comes from you abusing your abilities."

Rex winced. "Even if it sounds like I'm accusing you of something?"

"Yes. I'm quite used to being accused of things, _especially_ by you, Rex. Is this a particularly bothersome question?"

"Uh... yeah."

Biowulf snorted. "Hurry up, then."

Rex frowned, and took a few steps back. "Okay, here goes. Van Kleiss. Did you... blow up Providence?"

The two stared at him quietly, making the boy shudder. He hoped to high heaven they weren't extremely offended. Was this the end? Had he overstepped the line? After all these weeks of being relatively undamaged, was he finally going to be murdered in cold blood? Was-

"No, I didn't," the gauntlet clad EVO finally responded. "You can open your eyes now."

Rex blinked, not even realizing he'd squeezed his eyelids shut in fear. He shifted his gaze towards the man on the throne, his heart beating faster than before. The king was smirking at him, thoroughly entertained by the boy's terror.

"If you're going to have another episode, I suggest you do it in private," the man informed him. "But no, I didn't kill your coworkers. And yes, I'm sure. I have no reason to lie about it. Whether I did it or not, I still have full control over you."

"I guess I'll believe you... for now," Rex muttered. "It's just been... bothering me for a long time."

"I see," Van Kleiss responded. "You feel you're going to keep continuing your depressive fits until you receive full closure, I assume. How unfortunate."

Rex's eyes widened. "Why is it unfortunate? I just want to know what _happened."  
_  
"Because not everyone has the luxury to know the whole story sparking their grief. I don't know what happened to Providence, and I have no interest in finding out. My enemies are destroyed, and that's all that matters to me."

"But what about _me?" _Rex complained. "I'm here too! I can't go to sleep crying every night!"

The king shook his head. "You're not going to. It hurts for now, but eventually, you're going to get over it."

"I have _feelings_, you bastard! Just because _you're_ perfectly fine doesn't mean _I_ am! You-"

His angry rant was interrupted by a loud growl from Biowulf. The blue EVO glared at him, sick of his attitude.

"All you do is whine, and I'm tired of it," he snarled. "Go drown yourself in tears somewhere else."

"Biowulf, be quiet," Van Kleiss commanded him. "He's mentally unstable."

The mechanical EVO immediately apologized, lowering his head in embarrassment.

"Rex, I understand you're in distress over this," the king began after turning back to the boy, "But I have no incentive to find out the cause of their deaths. Why not watch the news? They'll tell you more than I care to."

The teen frowned deeply, hoping his cracked mind wouldn't break down from pressure. "They're keeping things undercover! It's not for the public yet. Top _secret_ investigation."

"That is quite the predicament for you, then."

"That's not _fair!"  
_  
Rex sighed in anguish. He knew it would be difficult to reason with a sociopath, but should it really have been this difficult? At least he hadn't burst out crying yet- the very idea humiliated him.

"Hmm... although I personally couldn't care less about how your coworkers, I do have a way to make this work," Van Kleiss said, ignoring the child's outburst. "But you have to _want_ it badly enough."

The teen, though feeling slightly better, became confused. "Wait... really? How?"

"Quid pro quo, Rex. If you want me to allow and assist you in uncovering your little mystery, you'll have to offer your services to me as well. To make it easier for you, I have a particular objective in mind at the moment."

"You do?" the younger EVO asked. "So if I agree to it, you'll help me?"

"I'll agree to help you _start_, though I might need further sacrifice on your part to keep me interested," the king corrected him. "The question is, would you be ready to partake in a biology experiment?"

Rex's blood ran cold.


	2. Chapter 2

**(I am aware of annoyances due to the coarse language I use in my writing. However, I think it's fine for a kid who deals with death threats every (other) day. It's also just fun for me. If swearing really bothers you, just don't read.)  
**  
"Wh-what experiment?" Rex stuttered, caught off guard by the suggestion. "You _planned_ this?"

Van Kleiss shook his head. "I didn't plan on using you specifically, but I needed someone to do a certain task for me. If you are willing to participate, however, I just might return the favor."

Biowulf raised a brow, but said nothing.

"Okay, what am I gonna do?" the boy asked. "Do I have to use my powers?"

"Most likely. Follow me."

The king left his throne and exited the room, ushering the younger EVO to follow him. The cold air of the hallways began to settle in on Rex's skin, making him shiver- though, he supposed the sensations were from his returning dread as well. Lately, surprising no one, his emotions resorted to negative thoughts much easier than before. Every day that dragged by was a struggle for him to regain his usual peppy personality. He hoped the spell wouldn't last long, however.

It would be a shame for Holiday and Six to see him this way.

Lost in thought, he bumped into his enemy, nearly tripping over in the process. "Ow! Why'd you stop?"

The teen rubbed his nose and gazed around the room, his eyes widening in wonder. Instead of a stone floor, the chamber they'd entered was grounded in a dirt one. A series of cages lined the walls, each containing giant EVOs that resembled wasps. The moment he stepped further, they hissed and forced their wings to vibrate, creating sounds akin to a helicopter taking off. The buzz permeated throughout the entire room, startling Rex out of his melancholy mindset.

At least, for the moment.

"Come here." Van Kleiss commanded him, walking towards a side of the room lacking any cages. The man approached what appeared to be a small metal closet, opening the doors to reveal transparent pieces of clothing. "Pick one out and put it on."

"Um... okay," the boy murmured, selecting his choice from the apparel. "What are these?"

"Cloaks. Just slip them over your shoulder and wrap them around so that you're fully covered."

Rex did just that, astonished by how strange the texture of the fabric felt. Even when swathing his entire figure, it felt incredibly lightweight, as well as exceptionally thin. The strangest part was how it felt eerily similar to plastic, yet folded in on itself in an entirely different way. Small lines ran through various areas of the cloak, but the boy couldn't tell if it was for aesthetics or functionality.

"This feels weird," he announced, prodding at the cloak. "It's like it's familiar, but I don't know where from."

The king reached into the closet yet again, this time pulling out a small black device. "I'll explain soon enough. For now, keep your arms at your sides."

"Why?"

"I'm going to electrocute you."

In a flash, two prongs shot out from the device and attached to the cloak, sending high voltage pulses around the teen's body. The strange fabric began to light up an increasingly bright yellow, prompting Rex to scream. He could feel the powerful volts buzz and crackle all around him, but soon realized that something was amiss.

He wasn't in pain.

Mouth wide open in shock, he watched as the continuous flow of deadly electricity struck the fabric and permeated throughout the entire cloak, utterly baffled by how none of it managed to reach his body. It was soon apparent that the odd material was protecting him from instantaneous death, though by an unknown mechanism. Peering further at the fabric, he found that the numerous lines embedded in it shone white, clearly taking in most of the voltage.

His enemy smirked, then turned the device off. "How was it, Rex?"

It took the teen a few moments to catch his breath to speak. "I- what- you almost _killed_ me- why-"

"I said I would _electrocute_ you, not _kill_ you," Van Kleiss explained. "Though that sounds impossible, thanks to what you're wearing, it's now reasonable to say that there's a difference between the two."

Rex was stunned.

"As I'm sure you know, you're not wearing normal cloth," the man pointed out. "It's special, harvested from these insect EVOs you see in the cages."

The boy turned his head towards the restrained wasp EVOs, still confused. "Wh-what? Do they make it for you?"

"No, I said I _harvested_ it from them. The cloak is made from their wings."

Rex paled. "You... you pluck out their _wings?"_

"Yes. During a particular rainstorm, I discovered that their wings are incredibly resistant to electricity. A bolt of lightning struck one of the members of their swarm, yet the it continued flying without a care. I captured a few of their numbers to test them, and I now utilize the material for protective gear. People pay great money it."

"You made it into a business," the teen muttered. "This is insane."

"Of _course_ I did," the king responded. "No country is complete without a basic economy. Even you should know that."

"But it's _cruelty! _You're keeping them locked up just so you can steal their organs! It's animal- er, EVO abuse! _Why_ isn't anyone calling you out for this?"

"Because they don't care to know the source. Secondly, sacrifices must be made. Aren't _you_ the one insisting on eating meat every so often? Where, might I ask, do you believe _that_ comes from?"

Rex shut his mouth immediately.

"If you're done with your theatrics- though, I'll admit they're a bit more refreshing than your crying spells- I'm going to ask you to do the job for me," the older EVO informed him. "I'm going to unlock the cages. Do what I say, or I won't be tempted to help you in your personal mission."

The teen's eyes widened in horror as the man pressed a button on the wall next to the cabinet, releasing the wasp EVOs. "Wait! _I'm_ the one plucking their wings out? You didn't _tell_ me!"

"I did just now," the king told him, immediately leaving the premises. "I'll be watching you from a nearby control room with the assistance of the cameras above."

"Why are you leaving?" Rex shouted, watching the doors close behind him. "Is it dangerous? _Hey!"  
_  
"You won't die. Just open the doors and leave if it's too much for you to handle. And if it is, I won't help you with your Providence issues."

"I _have_ to do this for that?"

No one answered.

The boy whipped around to find the EVOs slowly crawling towards him, their mouthparts twitching aggressively. He gulped and took a few steps back, summoning his sword. The orange weapon shot out in and instant, immediately in contact with the tough exoskeletons of the creatures-

Until one of them bit the tip off.

"OW!" Rex yelled, retracting his weapon. The wasp at the front, nearly twice his size, fluttered it's wings and hissed. "You guys eat _metal? _That's not fair!"

_Nothing_ seemed to be fair anymore, but he decided that if he had to suffer for his dead family, it was worth the cause. They didn't raise him to back away from obstacles, even if his mind was tampered with negativity. He would get through to them and solve the mystery of their deaths, no matter how much it hurt him.

"Let's try this, then," he spoke up, replacing his sword with his fist. "You can bite my builds all you want, but I'm still smarter than you."

Launching into attack, he struck the largest wasp against the wall, hearing it land with a sickening thud. The rest buzzed loudly in response, swooping in to pile up onto him. One by one, he swatted them away as much as he could, struggling to keep his breath under their weights.

Soon, he plucked off his first wing.

The EVO he hurt let out an ear piercing wail, digging its sharp legs against the dirt and lashing out at him, striking the boy on his leg. Blood began to trickle from the wound, and he howled in pain. Quickly, he formed his whip in defense, strangling the creature and sending a bolt of electricity to knock it out.

But its lone functioning wing took the brunt of the charge.

"_No!"_ the teen gasped as it bit into his metallic whip and pried itself from his grasp. He let out a yelp as it charged at him and knocked him to the ground, making him feel dizzy from the impact.

But he couldn't let his family down.

Struggling to stand, he formed his sword again and began waving it wildly at his attackers, slicing through their armor and clipping a few more wings- albeit sloppily. The EVOs began to shake and let out more screeches, but strangely enough, they didn't seem to be deterred. Instead, they clacked their mouthparts together and lunged at him, now even harder to bat away.

Panicking, Rex formed his slam canon and dug into the dirt to chuck a boulder at them, but his determination melted into horror when he realized that there was nothing but soft soil instead of the concrete chunks he'd usually shoot from his fights on the streets. The wasps took advantage of his ineptitude and latched onto him with their claws, tearing into his clothes.

_He was wrong to let his family die_.

The boy screamed as they began to bite his flesh and used any build he could to shove them off. He continued fighting in pain, using his Slam Cannon to smash them instead of aiming at them. Dodging their jabs, he leaped backwards and punched them with his sword, unaware of the blood slowly leaking through his clothes.

_Holiday would be ashamed of him._

"Hold still!" he shouted, jolting at the feeling of one of them biting his sword in multiple spots. "OW! _STOP!"  
_  
Rex drove himself at them, hoping to snatched the rest of their wings with brute force if necessary. Forming his hands into metal fists, he attempted to use his giant fingers to pop their heads off and remove the desired organs. The moment he killed one of them, however, seven others hissed and bit his digits off, rendering his build useless.

_Six would be disappointed in him._

As the EVOs dove onto him and clawed harshly at his torso and legs, burning pain began to erupt from any area they touched. Screaming, the teen felt his muscles turn white hot, forced to dismantle his machines just to keep the sensations away. Soon, his throat hurt too much to make any noise, reducing him to a silent victim. No matter how hard he pushed away at the vicious wasps, they remained undeterred.

_Bobo would be angry with him.  
_  
With that last haunting thought, he passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

**(I… tried :P)  
**  
Rex, you absolute _idiot_," Van Kleiss's voice called out to him, "Wake up _sometime_ today."

Rex felt something sharp poke the tip of his nose and trail down to his forehead, easing him out of his unconsciousness. Opening his eyes, he found himself lying down on a soft bed, comfortable and unrestrained. A series of white bandages adorned his body, wrapped around various parts of his legs and stomach. He attempted to touch them out of curiosity, but his hand was swiftly whacked away.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" his enemy asked, tying the last of the bandages to the teen's shin. "You worry about _me_ killing you, yet you nearly murdered _yourself_ down there. Have you lost your mind?"

Rex struggled to regain his memories, but finally recalled the fiasco with the wasp EVOs.

"I... you told me you'd help me if I plucked their wings," the boy muttered. "So that's what I did. Or tried to, at least."

"You are incredibly lucky I stepped in before any permanent damage was done, or they would have skinned you alive. _I_ didn't do this to you. _You_ are the one who used incorrect weaponry against them. Electricity, Rex? I told you they were _resistant."  
_  
Rex shook his head. "I... I just wanted to finish the job. I didn't know they were that powerful. You didn't tell me they eat _metal."  
_  
Van Kleiss scoffed. "It doesn't matter if I did or not. You fought EVOs perfectly well with Providence. Is your poor performance due to a lack of recent training? I haven't had you do much of it since you began grieving. Perhaps that's the cause."

_A failure_.

Rex buried his face into the sheets beneath him, his face reddening. "I'm sorry."

"You _should_ be. You wasted my time and equipment."

"I'm not talking to _you."  
_  
The king paused for a moment, then stared suspiciously into the younger EVO's eyes. "Then who _are_ you talking to? I believe you were cured."

"I'm not hallucinating, if that's what you're thinking," the teen responded. "I'm apologizing to Holiday and Six and Bobo. My family. I let them _die."  
_  
_Why should he have lived?_

"I'm not surprised you think this," the man remarked. "I don't suppose these thoughts have anything to do with your near death?"

"They...do?

"Out with it, then. Stop stalling."

Though his face was still mostly behind the bedsheets, Rex turned his head enough to look the man in the eye- or at least, he tried to. "They didn't deserve to die."

"That's debatable, but I know that's not all that's bothering you. You've had quite some time to get over that mentality."

"Tú también me molestas."

"Permanecer en el tema."

Rex let out a huff. "Ugh, I hate that. You won't even let me escape into Spanish."

"It's quite the advantage," Van Kleiss informed him. "Rex. I am not attacking you. I am merely trying to make an analysis of your thoughts. If they nearly killed you, they're not something to be ignored."

The boy let out a long, deep sigh, shifting his gaze towards his bandages. "I feel bad. About them, you know... dying."

"Obviously."

"No, it's a different kind of bad. I feel _guilty."  
_  
The king raised a brow, the pieces clicking together in his mind. "Oh, I see. Do you feel guilty for _surviving?"_

The teen stared up at him. "Aren't you weirded out by that? You're not gonna call me crazy?"

"You say that as if you want me to."

"I _don't_ want you to! But I just feel really bad because they didn't deserve it! I don't know why I feel bad about living after the explosion. I mean, I _want_ to live, but my mind is telling me there's something wrong about it. I can't tell if it's loneliness or just plain- I don't even _know!_ It feels like _betrayal _to just forget about them and move on! It's why I had to keep fighting the wasps! I-"

A single glance at the man's unamused expression made him realize how loud his rant had become.

"And now, you _definitely_ think I'm crazy," Rex finished, his voice reduced to a whisper.

Van Kleiss rested his chin in his palm. "I've seen people with your mentality back in my warrior days. You're not insane, but you do have an issue with your thought processes."

"So... you don't think I'm crazy?"

"To put it simply, because nothing _else_ seems to be getting through to you, you have survivor's guilt."

Rex frowned, slowly sitting up out of curiosity. "Explain."

"What's there to explain?" the man asked. "You said it yourself. You feel guilty for having survived, and chances are, it's because you don't feel that they deserved to die while you didn't. Guilt for something that wasn't in your control, which is why it's irrational- though a well documented phenomenon."

"Oh," the boy breathed. "I thought I was just being... stupid. But I didn't know why."

"I'm not surpris- well actually, in a sense, I am. It's strange to have that much of an attachment to people who hurt you. Nonetheless-"

"Shut up about that," Rex snapped, his melancholy vanishing for the moment. "You _know_ that hurts. You can just say "coworkers" and leave it at that."

The king narrowed his eyes at the child. "I took you in and fixed you. In fact, I'm _continuing_ to fix you. Don't you tell me what to do unless you want a _real_ reason to cry until your lose your voice."

Rex glared at him.

"We can discuss that later," Van Kleiss went on, ignoring the child's radiating resentment. "Now, for the more important things. I believe your condition is what is lengthening your grieving process for longer than it should. As you said, that's why you're so adamant on finding the cause of your... coworkers' deaths. However, you might be acting against your own wishes."

"You're _lying."  
_  
"No, I'm being quite serious. Let's say we find that the cause of their deaths was torture, strangulation, decapitation, electrocution, or even a mix of the four. Tell me, would that make your feelings of guilt weaker, or _stronger?"  
_  
The boy froze. "Don't... don't say that."

The king shook his head. "No. If you truly want to investigate, you should prepare for the worst. But you must also acknowledge that you're already being irrationally affected. Are you going hurt yourself with your mission?"

"Wait," the younger EVO began, "You're talking like you're allowing me to go."

"That's because I am. Though your work was shoddy at best, you did manage to clip a few wings for me, so you kept your end of the deal. At the end of the day, I still have control over you regardless. The question is if you're ready to handle finding out the truth."

Rex shifted his gaze towards his lap, his eyes wandering over the stains of blood that formed at the last minute. "It would... put me at peace. Even if it _does_ hurt. I can handle it."

"Are you sure?"

"I _think_ so."

"You don't seem like it. You can hardly look me in the eye."

The teen bit his lip. "I _know_ what you're trying to do, and I'm not falling for your stupid head games. You're pretending you care about what's gonna happen to me if I find out, but you're just trying to... what's the word..."

Van Kleiss grinned. "Discourage you? I never stated I care about the effects on you, nor did I imply it. I merely told you what _could_ happen."

"You're not going to dupe me, so stop _trying,"_ Rex retorted. "You don't want me to go because you wanna keep me locked up, and plus, it's obvious you're just trying to alienate them from me. Admit it- you're trying to _scare _me away. I already know what you're like, so the least you could do is stop being fake with me."

His enemy raised a brow. "What an interesting accusation. If you truly want honesty, know this. I would prefer you _didn't_ hurt yourself."

"That doesn't even make sense," the boy ridiculed. "If I did, what does it matter to you? It's not like you care."

"For one, I didn't go through the effort to keep you alive just so you can damage yourself," the king began. "At least _attempt_ to preserve some of my hard work. Secondly, you are under my control, and I'd rather a stronger person served me, rather than a weak imbecile. Lastly, you're a child, and a victim on top of it. You don't deserve pain unless you earn it."

Rex scoffed. "You can scratch that last part out. You've hurt me before."

"Yes, and you _earned_ that," the man explained. "Ultimately, my goal is not murder, but that tends to become necessary for certain missions."

"That's still sick and twisted," the boy argued. "You don't even care if you kill anyone! You just _do_ it. You don't give a f-"

"Can you truly tell me that Providence has never hurt anyone?"

Rex sat in silence, scowling at the man. He supposed he should have learned a long time ago that it was impossible to rationalize with the enemy, but after glancing at the clock, he decided it also wasn't the appropriate time to. Midnight was only a half hour away, and this wasn't what they were discussing in the first place at all.

"I wanna go to Providence and find out what happened to them," the teen announced determinedly. "I've made my decision. I didn't hurt myself for your wasp wings just to give up."

"Fine, then," his enemy responded. "Be prepared to leave in the morning."


	4. Chapter 4

**(who else was a single Pringle yesterday?)**

What does one bring to their family's grave?

Rex sighed, wondering how his life had become so twisted. Not only did he have to find the cause of his crew's death- his urges left him no choice- but he actually had to beg for it. Sure, he didn't exactly get on his hands and knees, but striking a deal with an enemy was just as humiliating. Even now, as he loaded a satchel with various items for the trip, he pondered the consequences the king had imprinted in his mind.

"Water, flashlight, and gloves," the teen listed, gathering them and throwing the satchel over his shoulder. "I'm done for now."

"I'd say you just started."

Rex whipped around to find a familiar four armed foe- or friend, depending on the circumstance- standing at the edge of his room. "Breach!"

The girl grinned. "You jump easy. Like a cat."

"I didn't know you were _there."  
_  
"Curiosity killed the cat."

The boy fell silent, staring at her as if she'd grown three heads to match her arms. The implication of trouble were deeply unsettling, to say the least. If she was here to dissuade him from his mission, she was certainly more on the foe side for now. She was quite the disturbing girl- he'd known that for quite a while- but what motive did _she_ have for scaring him like that?

Then again, he was probably looking too deeply into it.

"You are really bad at conversations," he remarked, making his way past her and out the door. "If you're just trying to bother me, go away."

Breach giggled. "But satisfaction brought it back."

Rex shook his head and made his way down the halls of the castle, quite familiar with the general layout of the area. By now, he travelled easily wherever he wanted to, feeling less lost and hopeless than he'd been before. Using his recently crafted mental map, he bounded towards Biowulf's room, careful to slow his pace at least a few yards before reaching the door.

"Hey, you there?" the boy asked, hesitantly knocking on the door. Aware of how strictly the blue EVO guarded his privacy, he knew it was wise to avoid any sort of trespassing. "We're leaving in ten minutes."

A growl emanated from the room, then the intended EVO's voice. "You're annoying, brat. I wouldn't have to sacrifice my valuable time if it wasn't for your sob story."

Rex rolled his eyes. "Hurry up and be the good little lapdog you pretend to be. Don't act like the soulless redhead that you are- at least, not where your precious _master_ can see."

The door swung open to reveal the furry EVO's tall figure, nearly smacking the teen in the face. He took a few steps backwards to keep some distance between him and his enemy, sensing the aura of irritation around the mechanical body. Biowulf's red eyes narrowed at the boy, unused to waking up for strange missions such as these.

"Take care to watch your words before I forget how to watch my claws," the blue EVO threatened. "I told you to never speak of that again. It is none of your business, so erase it from your memory like you erased the rest of your miserable life."

Rex scowled. "I don't know what you're doing, but I _know_ you're doing it behind Van Kleiss's back. He'd definitely kill you if he found out. And don't talk about my amnesia like that again, or I'll mash your freaky body against the wall."

Irritated, Biowulf swiped his arm at the child, knocking Rex to the floor. He then began to walk away towards the direction of the king's throne, not caring to look back. Rex muttered a curse and stood up, pulling his satchel onto his shoulder once again and restraining himself from continuing the fight. Biowulf was just being petty, he assured himself. The wolf EVO was clearly defensive due to being cornered with blackmail.

Pathetic.

Forming his Rex Ride, the teen zoomed past his foe and sped into the throne room, taking care not to bump into the stone walls. Van Kleiss stood in the center of the room, this time writing something into a notebook. Whether it was evil plans or simply the rancid thoughts of a madman, Rex didn't quite know.

And at the moment, he didn't care either.

"I got everything, so let's _go," _the younger EVO announced, tapping his bag. The king glanced up at him amusedly, as if there was something entertaining about the day's plans.

"You're quite eager, I see," Van Kleiss observed, closing the notebook. "It's good to see you gradually escaping your gloomy episodes. Still, you should think about the consequences of what you're about to do."

Rex scoffed. "You tried this already yesterday- and _failed_. Stop it. I'm not stupid."

"Consequences aren't always _negative_, Rex. I'm merely asking you to have some foresight. What did you gather?"

"Water and stuff," the teen informed him, rummaging through his satchel. "And my phone just because. I'm set."

"He's _set_ to waste our time," Biowulf piped up, entering the room. The blue EVO was followed by Breach, both of them displaying exact opposite demeanors. The girl smiled oddly, as if she knew something the others didn't. It wasn't surprising, however, as she wasn't exactly the prime example of sanity.

"Breach, open up a medium sized portal to the ruins of Providence," the gauntlet-clad EVO commanded her. "Not _in_ the building, but at the edge of the site. Enter with Biowulf, then wait for us."

The girl did as she was told, and soon, a red hole in the fabric of the universe opened up in front of her, allowing her to easily walk through. The mechanical EVO let out a low growl and followed along, leaving Rex and his captor all alone. The boy turned to the king and narrowed his eyes, suspicious of the strange decision to keep him behind for the time being.

"What?" the teen asked, concerned for his mission. "You better not have changed your mind. You _promised."  
_  
Van Kleiss smirked. "Interesting. You seem to trust me- though, it's probably more out of desperation than anything else."

"I _don't_ trust you. I just- whatever."

"Rex, if you find the cause of Providence's demise, what are you going to do afterwards?"

Rex paused for thought. Though he expected betrayal or maniacal ramblings, the man had actually brought up a good point. After all, there was no point in seeking out information only to have it end up useless. This mission was to find peace of mind, yes, but it could also lead to so much more.

"I'm going to... be happy?" the boy replied. "Satisfaction. Let me guess, you think I'm going to run away? Find a new will to live for escaping?"

"If you do grow a new will to live for leaving Abysus, as you put it, I will promptly crush it to the ground and burn it into ashes," the king calmly responded. "The same fate met very well befall _you_ as well."

Rex blinked. "What the _hell?"  
_  
"If you want honesty, I'm going to _give_ you honesty. I'm not angry with you, but I'm advising you to beware of the consequences of your actions. Should you decide to use this opportunity to attempt to run away, I will never let you see the light of day again. Do you understand?"

"Uh... yeah. But this just _proves_ you're a psychopath. You're insanely possessive."

The man shrugged. "Fine, then. I suppose I could stop and simply throw you back onto the streets to let you waste your potential and your life."

Rex's eyes widened. "Wait. Really?"

"No. The sooner you learn that I do what is best for your own good, the better."

"_Ugh_. You know what? I'm _still_ surprised you haven't killed me already."

Van Kleiss raised a brow. "Why would I do that? Out of anger? You're a child, Rex. It's best to have patience with young children."

"I'm _not_ a child," the boy denied. "I've done plenty of adult things. Don't treat me like a little kid."

"I disagree. You're nowhere near an adult."

The king ushered Rex towards the portal and pushed him forward, then stepped through himself. The blood red circle closed up soon enough, effectively keeping them grounded in their new surroundings. Rex's breath was nearly taken away as he stared at what was left of his home, unable to find the words to describe it.

Horrendous.

The giant building, as he'd last remembered it, was reduced to a giant pile of rubble. Blood had long dried- though flashbacks of the fresh kind began to appear in his mind- and the bodies of the dead soldiers and EVOs remained littered across the area. Apparently, the explosion had been powerful enough to create a disaster zone of at least half a mile around the Base, scattering corpses and debris around the perimeter.

"This is... a little _too_ real to handle," the boy breathed, feeling slightly dizzy. "It's, wow, okay, I need a minute."

Biowulf huffed, but said nothing.

"If you're too weak, we can always turn back," Van Kleiss pointed out, watching the teen clutch his hair. "Just because you make an idiotic decision doesn't mean you have to go through with it."

Rex rubbed his face and glared at him. "As _if_. I said I _can_ take it, I just don't have to take it all in one _go_. Come on."

The teen took a deep breath and began to walk through the debris, careful not to tread on the bodies rotting under the sun. Most were squashed under boulders, lessening the smell. Still, it sent chills up his spine when he realized it was the equivalent to walking through a body farm- a violent, _accidental_ body farm. This certainly wasn't how he wanted to remember his home, but defying Van Kleiss's expectations of his supposed fragility would be worth it.

"Forgive me, Master, but he's taking away your time from more important things," Biowulf muttered as he trekked alongside the king, keeping his distance away from the wandering child. "Experiments, plans- all gone for a simple hike."

The true reason the mechanical EVO wanted his Master to be busy was for the ease of his own escape- though he hadn't quite planned it- but naturally, he kept that tidbit hidden for fear of his own life.

"I disagree," the gauntlet-clad EVO responded, kicking aside a rock as he continued walking. "This place _is_, in fact, quite interesting."

Biowulf turned to face the man. "You've... you've changed your mind?"

"The moment I stepped through the portal, in fact. Tell me, Biowulf. What do you notice about this place?"

The blue EVO shifted his gaze towards the site, attempting to catch any detail he might have missed. "Destruction, Master. Dead humans and EVOs. Lifeless and abandoned."

"Yes, but there's something more. Something _sinister_. Rex!"

The boy, about twenty feet ahead of the two, glanced back at his caller. "_What?"  
_  
"Come here for a moment."

The boy groaned, but obeyed. If he wanted to keep his powers, he didn't have a choice. He strode up to his enemy and frowned, clearly annoyed by the restrictions on his freedom.

"What do you want_?"_ he asked.

Van Kleiss grinned. "You don't notice it either?"

Rex groaned. "Don't be cryptic. Seriously."

"You're too wrapped up in your emotions to pay attention, aren't you? I want to say I don't blame you, but it's about time you learned to be astute. Something is very wrong here, Rex, and I'm going to give you a few minutes to use your common sense to figure it out. Your time starts _now."  
_  
Rex scanned the ruins for a few minutes and found nothing unusual- at least, nothing that was unexpected for the situation. No hidden EVOs lurked, and no surviving humans were in his line of sight. As far as he could tell, they were completely alone. The wretched scene was exactly how he'd left it two months ago.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the younger EVO announced, giving up. "If you're playing head games, this is a _really_ bad time."

"Nothing looks different from the scene portrayed in the news when it first exploded," the king explained. "Tell me, Rex. When someone is murdered and there's a surviving witness, what would the witness do?"

Rex cocked a brow. "Wait. Are you blaming _me_ for something?"

"No, I am not. Answer the question."

"Well... I guess they'd call the police?"

The king nodded. "And what would the police do?"

Rex turned to stare into the distance, hoping the man's message was hidden somewhere in the scenery. "They'd come by and arrest the killer."

"Let's say the killer escaped, and it was the police's job to find evidence," Van Kleiss continued. "What then?"

"Then they'd do searches and stuff. I saw it on crime shows. Fingerprints, blood, bullet casings, the works."

The older EVO waved his hands towards the ruins. "Exactly. Effort would be taken to examine the place, and that would mean that the setting is put under strict watch and analyzed thoroughly. Eventually, objects would be taken apart or removed for evidence."

"Okay, yeah, I get it," Rex responded. "So you're saying that there should be people here investigating? That we shouldn't be alone?"

"Precisely. Rex, this place is _exactly_ the same as two months ago. Something is keeping the police, government, and general population away from here- something possibly quite dangerous. The question is, could you face it?"


	5. Chapter 5

Rex shook his head, frowning. "You're paranoid. There's nobody here."

"As I've said, that's the _problem," _Van Kleiss reiterated. "Even if you don't believe me, you must admit that there must be something odd about this place if a professional investigation hasn't been launched."

"But there was! I told you it was just top _secret_. I saw it on the news, remember?"

"Then isn't it strange how they claimed to have an active investigation, yet not a soul is to be found here? _Think_, Rex. It doesn't make sense."

"Okay, well... we'll see."

Rex rolled his eyes and walked away, strolling through the remains of his home. His satchel slapped against his hip as he leaped over boulders, prompting him to hold a protective hand over it. Glancing up at the wreck of the building- or rather, what was left of it- he recalled Holiday's confused voice as she tried to call him back minutes before her fate was sealed. Additionally, the phantom smell of the burger he'd eaten that day wafted into his nose- but instead of making him salivate, it made him feel sick.

There was a first time for everything.

The teen remembered how he'd felt the rumbling beneath his feet, and how he'd thought it was an earthquake. He wished he could go back in time and rescue his family before the building collapsed in on itself, though acknowledged that it would be impossible to get everyone out. People like Kenwyn and White Knight would probably be the ones he'd have to leave behind in order to save the three most valuable members of his family.

Rex wished he could go further back in time to prevent the explosion from ever _happening_, but the cold truth of the matter was that he didn't even know the _cause_. That's what he came here to find out, after all. Rewinding his memories in his head, he tried to think of any warning sign that might have hinted towards the upcoming disaster, but couldn't bring any to mind.

That was the scariest part of it, really. Nobody saw it coming.

Did they?

As he wandered closer towards the center of the ruins, the child pushed a boulder aside and wondered if anyone had foreseen the event. Had Holiday discovered the truth a little too late? Was Six on his way to help her before he, too, was killed? Did White Knight ever send out an alert before the internal apocalypse? Rex couldn't _begin_ to fathom how morbid their deaths would have been if they knew exactly what was coming, especially if they also knew they no had no choice but to wait for their demise.

"You're crying."

The child spun around to face Van Kleiss, watching the man walk several feet away from him, but towards the same general direction. He lifted a hand to his face and felt moisture beneath his eyes, his face reddening as he quickly swiped away at it.

"I'm _fine,"_ Rex insisted. "I just got... carried away. This isn't easy for me, you know. Stop being so judgmental."

The man grinned. "No need to be so defensive, Rex. I'm not judging you."

"Yes you-"

"By the way, what do you call this place? I'm not familiar with the term."

The boy turned to examine his surroundings, finding himself at the entrance of what seemed to be a lush, green area. Many of the plants, despite a lack of caretakers, flourished around the area, growing wildly without boundaries. He wandered further into the premises, taking a fresh breath of air from the rich supply of oxygen. Though the creatures that usually inhabited it were now corpses, somehow, he still found a sliver tranquility in the sea of green.

"The Petting Zoo," Rex answered. "It's where we kept the incurable EVOs."

"A shame," Van Kleiss remarked, enjoying the change of scenery quite thoroughly. "It's almost exactly like Abysus- only, much more restrained."

Rex scoffed. "It's _nothing_ like Abysus. We had rules that kept people from being killed wherever and whenever, for one. We're not savages."

"Yes, you're not the savages who capture EVOs and lock them away from the world to stifle their true potential. I know."

Rex wrinkled his nose at the sarcasm.

"At any rate," the king continued, "There is much to be salvaged from this place. I could uproot these plants and take them back to- oh, that's quite distasteful."

"What?" the younger EVO asked. "Your plans to _steal?"_

"No, the unfortunate fate that befell that EVO."

Rex shifted his gaze towards the direction the man pointed at, spotting a large, orange creature sprawled across the ground. As he made his way towards it, it appeared to be a venomous frog-based EVO, notorious for jumping around and biting its wild companions around the neck. Its skin, once as bright as a the flames of fire, was now dulled to a shade akin to that of a dry orange peel.

But the closer he crept, however, the more questions popped into his mind. By the time he stood right next to it, he could see the details clearly, but they were quite confusing. The skin was perfectly intact- though lifeless- and no fatal marks were to be seen. None of the limbs were forced into any unnatural positions, and no pools of blood or other vital liquids surrounded the body. Granted, they would have dried up by now, but at least the stains would have been somewhat visible. It was as if the corpse was a wax statue rather than a previously living being.

"Something's wrong," the teen murmured, leaning over the body. "Can you tell what killed it? I can't."

Van Kleiss's face took on a more quizzical expression. "I can't either. Not even a gash on its head to indicate a fatal concussion. Flip it over."

Rex formed a Smackhand and lifted the frog EVO, then settled it down onto its back. The underside of the creature was just as untouched as the rest of its skin, making a cold feeling settle in his stomach. It was the eeriest circumstance for a death he could have imagined- the perfect, flawless demise.

"Perhaps it died from poisoning?" the king speculated, interrupting the child's morbid spiral of thought. "Cut it open. Maybe we'll see signs internal bleeding."

The boy switched his giant fist for a blade and sliced the stomach open in one clean line, cutting it from head to toe. "It's still creep-"

Rex screamed.

As soon as the skin was torn away, dark grey ashes began to burst from the fresh slits, littering the floor. The pressure beneath the thick layer of skin forced even more ashes out of the EVO, soon forming a large pile around the teen's feet. Like smooth sawdust, it oozed its way out of every crevice it could find, prompting Rex to leap back in terror.

"Why is it filled with that stuff?" he shouted, the hairs on the back of his neck rising. "It doesn't even have organs! What the _fuck?"  
_  
"_Quiet_, Rex," Van Kleiss scolded, utterly fascinated by the state of the corpse. "Try to analyze it instead of reacting so primally."

"It turned into a bag of DUST! How does that even _happen?_ It looked perfectly _FINE!"  
_  
The man knelt down and pressed two fingers into the ashes, then rubbed it between his fingertips. "Isn't it interesting? No trace of fluids, bones, muscle, or anything of the sort. It seems to be entirely cremated from the inside."

"No, no, _no,"_ Rex chanted. "There's no way you can burn someone from the _inside_ and leave it looking perfectly normal. No. This is _way_ too messed up. This is-"

"If you really want to get over yourself, you should start by finding out how this happened," the king interrupted. "I, too, am intrigued- though in a much more professional way than you are. I've never seen anything _like_ this."

The boy coughed_. "Never?"_

"Never. Biowulf!"

The blue EVO came rushing in immediately at the sound of the call, not expressing any fatigue whatsoever. "Yes, Master?"

"Find us an EVO and bring it here- _gently_, mind you. Make sure you don't damage it. I want to perform an observational experiment."

Rex shuddered.

His furry companion nodded and explored the remains of the Petting Zoo, searching for one of the many corpses that littered the place. After a few minutes, he found one suspended from a tree- an odd position for a fish-like EVO- and brought it back to the two, careful not to leave any marks on it. The orders had been direct, after all. The less mistakes, the better.

"As you wished," Biowulf uttered, setting the scaly creature down onto the soft grass. "What else may I do?"

"Tear it open with your claws," Van Kleiss ordered. "Clean lines. At least four, side by side."

As soon as the layer of scales was slashed through, familiar black ashes began to pour through each gash, making the teen feel slightly dizzy. Soon, the entire body was just a flimsy piece of skin, devoid of the dark stuffing that replaced its vital organs. The gauntlet-clad EVO noticed his youngest worker's swaying body, and held a hand against Rex's back to keep him from tipping over.

"Just when we get to the interesting part, you decide that it's too much?" the king asked, half mocking the boy. "Sit down if you need to. I'm going to be taking a good, long look at what I've found."

Feeling quite disturbed by the sudden turn of events, Rex did as he was told and allowed himself to sink to the floor next to the man, hoping to wrap his mind around what he'd just witnessed. Van Kleiss might have thought that his distress was due to the mere sight of the internal cremation- though that was certainly a factor- but the true cause was the implication.

What if Holiday and Six suffered the same fate?


	6. Chapter 6

**(Oh well.)**

Rex frowned deeply, watching the man analyze the grey inner contents of the EVO's body. "Van Kleiss?"

"Yes?" the man asked, bringing the ashes closer to his face for analysis.

"Do you think it hurts?"

"_What_ hurts?"

The boy winced. "Being... you know... burned from the inside."

"Of _course_ it would," the king scoffed. "Imagine feeling your organs burn white hot and incinerate you from the inside while you could do nothing but scream in agony, knowing full well you wouldn't reach the peace of death until the searing flames reached your brain and began to burn that as _well-_"

One look at the teen's face made the man cut off his sentence immediately. Rex's features were contorted in a twisted expression that conveyed a mix of horror and disgust, clearly expressing how stressing the explanation was.

"Oh," Van Kleiss sighed. "You're thinking about _them_. Yes, Rex, I suppose that they would have died rather painfully. It is what it is."

Rex nearly retched. "I _really_ wish I didn't ask you to be honest with me. I don't wanna be here anymore."

"You want to go back to Abysus?"

"No! I just don't wanna sit _here_. Can we go further into the building? I hate being around these... burnt EVOs."

The king nodded, standing up. "I can tell. Your stress is making you ask idiotic questions about death. I suppose I'll have Biowulf guard this corpse so we can explore further. Try not to fall over and _faint."  
_  
After the blue EVO in question took his orders, the two began to head towards the center of the destroyed building, finally moving past the Petting Zoo. The boulders around them were much more noticeably stained with dried blood, due to the fact that they were closer to where the majority of people had died, and it made them feel as if they were in a carnival haunted house. Decomposing limbs hung from the edges, remains of entrails were sprawled across the floor, and the atmosphere was dead silent.

But the quiet was deafening.

As they trekked forward, Rex began to feel a strange buzzing inside his stomach. He nearly panicked at the mental image of a fire being lit inside him, but soon realized that he felt no change in temperature at all. The feeling- neither hot nor cold- spread from his core to his chest and pelvis, then further into his limbs. The farther he walked, the stronger the buzzing became. It was as if a hive of bees had woken up inside him, rising to the occasion of driving him mad.

Was he losing his mind?

The boy stopped in his tracks. "Can... can you _feel_ that?"

Van Kleiss raised a brow. "Feel what?"

"It's like a there are bugs inside me," Rex explained. "It doesn't hurt, but the deeper we go into Providence, the stronger it gets. Isn't it happening to you too?"

"You're under worse stress than I thought," the king remarked, looking the child right in the eye. "We should have turned back a while ago. You're hurting yourself."

"No! _Listen_ to me! It doesn't feel bad or anything, but it's like something inside me activated!"

"Yes, your nanites."

The teen fell silent. As much as he didn't want to express agreement with his enemy, nanites were a far better explanation than thousands of flying insects in his bones. They coursed through every part of his body, after all.

Perhaps they were trying to tell him something?

"How would _you_ know if they're my nanites?" the younger EVO asked. "What if it's something else? Like what I ate?"

The man shook his head. "Rex. Your eyes are glowing blue. You know exactly what causes that."

The boy instantly plucked his phone out of his pocket and turned it on, activating the camera. His eyes were indeed glowing a bright shade of blue, and thin, circuit board-like lines spread out across his face. He then slipped one of his gloves off and checked the skin on his hands, finding them encased in the glowing patterns as well.

"What- how- why-" Rex stuttered, utterly confused by the state of his body. "I don't underst-"

"I don't either, but if it doesn't hurt you, they might be signaling you for something," the gauntlet-clad EVO interrupted. "I want you to walk ten feet backwards."

"Why?"

_"Now?"  
_  
The boy groaned but obeyed, putting distance between himself and his enemy in a short amount of time. To his surprise, the buzzing began to recede, and the lines across his skin began to falter, slowly shrinking out of existence. Upon hearing the command to come forward again, he made his way back to the front, feeling the sensations becoming stronger.

"Yeah," Rex breathed. "They're _definitely_ getting more intense the farther we go."

Van Kleiss narrowed his eyes at the teen. "Make one of your builds to see if it's painful. That would give a better indication if there's something truly amiss with your nanites."

But to their surprise, the child was unable to transform his limbs at all.

"What?" Rex gasped, waving his arms wildly. "No! I can't make _anything!_ What's happening to me? _Do_ something!"

"Calm down," the king ordered him, annoyed by his theatrics. "I don't know what the issue truly is, so I can't help you at the moment. However, if you don't feel intense pain, this may mean that your nanites are simply too busy to follow your commands at the moment."

"Why would they be too _busy?"  
_  
"I'm unsure, but it's obvious that your nanites aren't at rest. Perhaps they're defending you."

Rex gave him a quizzical look, slowly lowering his arms. "No one's attacking, though? I can feel that they're stressed- at least, I _think_ that's what the buzzing means- but I can't feel anything invading me. Invasive stuff usually hurts."

"They could be fighting something that's too insignificant in size for either of us to detect," the older EVO guessed. "Let's continue our expedition for now, and you can tell me if it becomes painful."

They began to walk through the halls again, and the buzzing in Rex's stomach- though not unbearable- became less easy to ignore. The halls around them were littered with bodies of soldiers who'd drawn their last breaths in panic, their entrails spreading across the floor in patterns of high impact splatter. The two avoided touching any of the corpses and carried on, feeling the cold of the building settle on their shoulders.

If there was a bad time to be superstitious, it would be now.

Rex shivered. "Do you think they _knew_ they were going to die?"

Van Kleiss glanced at the positions of the soldiers' remains. "They appear to have been attempting an escape, so I suppose they had _some_ semblance of the idea."

"But why couldn't they escape?"

"A better question is, why are you asking _me?"  
_  
The teen zipped his mouth, regretting his words immediately.

The man raised a brow. "Don't take that too harshly, Rex. I know your thoughts are scattered, but you _are_ starting to ramble a bit, and I won't allow you to delve into nonsensical behavior. This is for your benefit."

"Whatever," the boy mumbled. "Well, anyway, here we are- the control center."

The two approached a large, grey door, stepping over the deceased pawns that now guarded it with their bones. Van Kleiss, remembering that Rex's powers were on hiatus, used his gauntlet to pry the metal apart and discard it in order for them to enter the control room. Immediately, he felt a rapid sensation of buzzing shoot up his spine, causing him to double over in shock.

"What _is_ that?" the king hissed, experiencing the same feeling the child had. "It's _everywhere!"  
_  
Rex shrugged. "A better question is, why are you asking _me?"  
_  
The man glared at him for a moment, then eased himself back into a normal standing position. "Perhaps we should turn back if you're going to be _immature."  
_  
The teen ignored his words and entered the control room, only to find what could only be described as a disaster zone.

The room was practically drowned in grey.

It was as if a giant, dust filled piñata had been whacked fiercely in every part of the room, drawing up a morbid image of soldiers patting before their deaths. Dark ashes nearly covered the floors entirely, and many EVO skins littered the area, devoid of any contents. Chairs, computers, and control panels were swathed in the filth, making it seem like it had piled up for centuries. The whole room was nearly unrecognizable as a professional command center for a highly advanced organization, seeming more like an ancient building they'd found on a trek through the desert.

"Did- did something explode in here?" Rex asked, startled. "It's like no one's ever swept the place!"

"No one's here to do anything of the sort," the king remarked, stepping in to see the room himself. "And I truly believe that there's something in this building that's causing our nanite activity to rise- though, I still can't tell exactly what. It might be what caused people to avoid launching an investigation here."

The teen remained confused. "How come you didn't feel it with me until we got in _here?"  
_  
"Our nanites, as well as our genes, are different. They might be sensitive towards different things. In this case, yours responded quickly towards something mine took some time to notice."

"Does that mean yours are stronger, or mine?"

"This isn't a power play, Rex. Don't turn it into one."

Rex began to wander around the room, making his way towards the control panel. "I'm not turning into _dust_, so at least I have that going for me."

When he arrived at the control panel for the main screens up above, the young EVO pressed his hands against the control panels and tried to activate his nanites and pull up footage of the last events at Providence, but his machines refused to work. Muttering a curse in frustration, he attempted to switch the screens on manually, but found the equipment too clogged with debris to function. He stood there in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, trying to find a way to continue his investigation.

"What a ghastly end to such a place," Van Kleiss observed, kicking aside some ash with his boot. "So, Rex. How are you going to ease your sanity _now?"_

"I'm not giving up just yet," Rex informed him. "I need to find some tech that still works. Data could be stored on it somewhere, and at this point, I'll take anything."

"Are you sure it won't be a lost cause?"

The boy whipped around, narrowing his eyes at the king. "Don't you _dare."  
_  
The man gave him a knowing look. "Don't tell me the thought never crossed your mind. This place is nothing but ruins, you know."

"You really think I'm just going to _abandon_ them?" the child asked, making his way around the control panel to find undamaged switches.

"And there's your other problem- you're still speaking as if they're alive."

"That's because- _whoa!"  
_  
Rex tripped and fell over, nearly knocking the wind out of himself. If it wasn't for his reflexes, he would have nearly broken his jaw. After propping himself up and retracting his legs, he glanced back at the piece of rubble that had caused him to lose his balance- only, it wasn't a piece of rubble at all.

It was a radio.


	7. Chapter 7

**(This chapter was a necessary evil tbh)  
**  
Before Rex could reach out to touch the device, the buzzing in his body intensified to twice the sensation it had been before. Anywhere that the ashes touched his skin was marked by a static- like feeling in his nerves, causing him to shiver and clutch his limbs as if they were to escape from his body. He tried to stand and shake the ashes off, but the more he contact they made with his skin, the stronger the buzzing became, causing him to panic.

He was soon relived by a golden gauntlet pulling him into the air, shaking him viciously, then setting him back on the ground.

"Ow!" the teen groaned, rubbing his neck where the collar had pulled against. "I didn't _ask_ you to help me up!"

Van Kleiss shook his head. "You weren't going to manage it yourself, clearly. Stop complaining."

"Lay _off_ and let me see this for a second."

The teen slowly reached down to lift the radio and set it on the command center's large, round table, examining it for every detail he could find. It appeared to be much less technologically equipped than most of Providence's devices, and wasn't made with matching high quality material. Amidst highly developed machinery, it seemed like a plaything for someone of the past- too primitive to be used in this day and age.

"Why would they _have_ one of these?" Rex wondered aloud, running his fingers across the edges. "They're super outdated."

"Perhaps it was for emergencies," the king responded. "I suppose they valued all technology, even the kinds that aren't used as often anymore. Odd, especially for an organization like Providence."

"You know what else is weird? There's no dusty crap on it."

The older EVO trailed his reddish eyes across the radio a second time, realizing that the boy was right. It seemed to be devoid of any surrounding filth, completely mismatching the rest of the room's equipment. A simple touch with his human finger only affirmed the observation- not the slightest buzzing sensation accompanied it.

"I don't believe in coincidence, Rex," the man spoke up after a while. "At least, not to this degree. It's too unusual for it to be this untouched in a setting such as this one."

Rex poked and prodded at the dials, wishing his nanites could work again. "And what would that mean?"

"At this point, simply that I might have been wrong about something before," Van Kleiss explained. "Unlikely, but a there's still a very slim chance."

"_Shocking_," the teen muttered sarcastically, searching for the battery compartment. "What's your lightbulb moment telling you now?"

"We're not alone."

Immediate chills began to run up the boy's spine like he'd pressed against a live wire, prompting him to snap his head up.

"That sounds like the start of a ghost story," Rex pointed out. "What are you even talking about? I don't see anyone around."

"If you recall how I told you that no one returned to these ruins due to everything being untouched, you may now believe I'd spoken too soon. This radio might have been planted here after the explosion- after all, it's too clean for something on the floor in the first place, let alone intact after a disastrous event."

The boy stared at him. "Someone came _back."  
_  
Rex lifted the radio into his arms and held it tightly in order to keep his hold firm, turning around to leave the room. The man frowned, feeling that while the boy had gained some information out of him, he himself hadn't quite satisfied his curiosity yet.

"Don't leave just yet," the gauntlet-clad EVO commanded. "Where did Providence keep the syringes?"

The teen froze in his tracks.

"Don't act as if I'm going to bite you, Rex," Van Kleiss insisted, though he was entertained by the reaction nonetheless. "You're too easily wound up. I simply want to collect samples of ashes to take back for analysis, and I need the proper equipment to carry them."

"They're... I don't know... in the labs?" the younger EVO guessed. "Upper floors. I they're crushed, though. The explosion ruined most of the building."

"Fine. I suppose I'll have to use these dirty mugs for now."

The boy watched as he picked up an old coffee mug from one of the tables- it's owner clearly not requiring caffeine anymore- and scooped a pile of ashes into it.

"That's really gross," the teen remarked. "You don't know where that's bee-"

A deafening howl cut him off mid-sentence.

"What... _was_ that?" Rex asked, clutching the radio even tighter against his chest.

"Biowulf," Van Kleiss murmured, suddenly rushing out of the room.

Running out of the building, the two made their way past the masses of corpses they'd seen earlier, letting the open breeze hit their face. The agonized noises became louder and louder as they sped towards the remains of the Petting Zoo, prompting them to search for the mechanical EVO. Rex kept his eyes out for the familiar blue fur and long snout, but after pushing aside some minuscule rocks with his bare hands, he found something far stranger.

Blackened fur.

Biowulf lay unsteadily on the grass, thrashing wildly as if being attacked by an invisible swarm of hornets. The pained growls that escaped his throat jarred the boy out of any sense of peace he'd had, prompting him to back away in instinct. The blue EVO's body seemed to be sizzling, and by the time Van Kleiss reached the scene just after him, Biowulf was nearly out of energy to howl at all.

"Breach!" the king called out, communicating with her through a hidden earpiece, "Return us to Abysus _now!"  
_  
A shroud of bright red encompassed their bodies, returning them to the castle's throne room.

"What- what's going on?" Rex asked quickly, watching Biowulf whimper on the cool grey floors. Strangely, the mechanical EVO's pain seemed to lessen, judging by the slowly decreasing movement that wracked his body. Still, it was obvious that Biowulf was in great distress.

"Master, _help_," the large EVO gasped, panting between words. "I'm- _fire_. Please. I'm _burning!"  
_  
The gauntlet-clad EVO nodded. "Breach, transport him down to the coldest of the castle's rooms underground. Set the temperature to zero degrees. I'll be down soon."

As soon as Biowulf had been teleported away, the man turned to the teen. The expression he saw on Rex's face was one of simultaneous fear and confusion, and after trailing his eyes down below, he could see that the boy's fingers had become bright red from gripping the radio so fiercely. More than likely, it seemed, the grip was a subconscious reaction- an attempt by his mind to have _some_ stability in the situation.

"I believe we've just discovered why the place was deserted," Van Kleiss began. "Whatever kept people away is clearly still active."

"He said he was on _fire!" _the teen spouted frantically. "Someone tried to burn him _alive_ while we were gone!"

"Firstly, calm down. Clutch that machine any tighter, and your fingers are going to bleed. Secondly, don't make assumptions until we ask Biowulf for explicit details. He didn't mention a person. You're safe now, so just relax. We're not at Providence anymore."

Rex, now aware of the state of his hands, loosened his grip- albeit painfully. The metal had left harsh indentations in his his fingers, but that wasn't what bothered him the most. The jarring part of the man's words dawned upon him as an undeniable truth- for the first time in his life, he saw Abysus as safe, and Providence as a dangerous zone.

How fast could his world flip upside down?

The king sensed the internal stress blossoming inside the child. "If you want to try to forget what happened- at least, for _now-_ I suggest a nap to sleep the stress off."

"Everything's backwards." the teen muttered staring at the floor. He hardly noticed the older EVO gently remove the radio from his reddened arms. "I wanted to find answers, not more _questions."  
_  
"Consider it your own private investigation, if nothing else. Clearly, the media couldn't fulfill their promise of finding out the cause of Providence's explosion. But you're no average person, so I believe you have a better chance of it. Additionally..."

Rex hardly heard the man's words while nearly drowning himself in an internal ocean of guilt. He'd fought hard for his first chance to go back and find what killed Holiday and Six, and instead of achieving peace, he'd allowed himself to be taken away quickly like a coward. He'd only spent an hour there, and hadn't even discovered anything useful. What was worse was that they were attacked by something- or _someone-_ he couldn't even see.

Who hated him _this_ much?

"... complications and subsequent treatment- _Rex_. Are you listening to me?"

The boy shook his head. "Honestly? No. But I don't _want_ to right now, okay? I already feel bad enough as it is. Don't make it worse."

The king raised a brow, slightly taken aback by the blunt answer. "Fine, then. But if you push yourself to start crying, don't hold _me_ accountable for it. Right now, I'm going to attend to someone a bit saner. Biowulf could probably be much more coherent than you, judging by your unstable mindset."

Van Kleiss began to walk away towards the direction of the halls, but to his surprise, the younger EVO began to follow him.

"And just _why_ are you coming?" the man asked, making a turn to his left. "Eat something. Go to sleep. Do _something_ to keep your mind occupied if you're so stressed."

Rex shook his head. "No. Biowulf has answers to what happened back there. They might not be all the answers I need, but hearing them is the _least_ I could do to make it up to Six and Holiday."

"The very least you could _also_ do is not be bothersome. Don't have an episode while I'm trying to heal an injured soldier, and I'll tolerate you. That shouldn't be too much to ask."

The boy huffed, but remained silent- after all, he wouldn't want anyone wailing their lungs out at his bedside if _he_ was sick either. The real reason that had led him to follow his enemy to the cooler, underground chambers wasn't something he wanted to make so transparent, however.

It was true that he needed details from the blue EVO to find out what had happened at Providence, but he also felt unsafe in the throne room. Yes, it was unlikely that the malevolent forces- or people- that hurt Biowulf had somehow entered the portal _with_ them, but at the same time, so were the chances of an armed organization like a Providence exploding in the first place. To ease the uneasiness eating away at him, Rex decided to seek comfort in one of the most primal methods since the dawn of humanity.

To put it simply, he didn't want to be alone. 


	8. Chapter 8

They'd occupied the lab for hours.

Rex sat in a chair in the coldest room in the castle, huddled up in a sweater and covered by an extra blanket. He recalled the time he'd spent in this particular chamber testing out beta nanites- only this time, he wasn't suffering in subzero temperatures on the other side of the glass. Instead, he'd taken up a seat in front of the control panel, quietly waiting for answers to be revealed. The occasional crunch of his chips was the only sound to be heard in the lab, aside from the occasional clacking of the king's metal fingers on the screens.

For the moment, he remained at peace.

Biowulf, lying on a table on the opposite side of the glass, seemed to be suffering much less than before. Although bits and pieces of his fur had been permanently charred, Van Kleiss had insisted that they would grow back healthy after a good trim. The blue EVO wasn't howling in pain anymore, staying utterly still as his master asked him questions and took readings of his nanite levels.

The king, for the most part, hadn't shown any sign of aggression towards the Rex- not even even so much as a scolding remark. The teen found it strange that he wasn't being attacked, and didn't think it was something he could ever get used to. The man was never further than ten feet away when moving about the control panel, yet remained harmless.

The boy stuffed another chip into his mouth, hoping the examination would be done within the next half hour. True, he sought comfort in the company- even if it wasn't interactive- but his interest could only stay piqued for so long. The usual feelings of boredom rose over him like a dark cloud, a looming threat to his motivation to solve the mystery of Providence.

Either that, or he was just feeling sleepy again.

"I'm just about finished with my analysis," the king announced. "If you can manage to stay awake, you might be able to hear the results."

Rex didn't even realize his eyes were half-lidded until his drowsiness was called out.

"Yeah, okay," the boy mumbled. "Is Biowulf gonna be fine?"

"It's not a simple yes or no answer, Rex."

The child frowned. Although he didn't yet say it out loud, he believed the mechanical EVO's recovery was a two edged sword. One one hand, it was a good thing for someone technically on his side to be healthy enough to aid in a possible attack. Biowulf, however incompetent he may have been at times, was a fierce, avid fighter. It was obvious why Van Kleiss wasn't willing to lose him so easily. That, and the king's forces were already limited at best.

However, if the blue EVO eventually regained full strength, there was little doubt that he would seek revenge against Rex. After all, it was the _boy's_ idea to explore the ruins of his old home, and it had dire consequences on Biowulf's body. Bitter feelings would linger, and perhaps give the teen yet another reason to stay wary. This, of course, would be added to the previously existing resentment between the two.

He'd have to sleep with one eye open.

"Biowulf," Van Kleiss called out to the EVO beyond the glass. "We're finished for now. Lie there for the night."

Rex took a deep breath, attempting to keep himself awake. "Don't keep me in the dark. What happened to him?"

"Well for one, you were wrong," the man said, finally sitting down in a chair adjacent to the boy's. "No one tried to burn him alive- at least, from what his account of the events revealed. Don't make blatant assumptions like that again."

"So what _did_ happen to him?"

"His nanites seem to have... malfunctioned."

"That's too vague," Rex pointed. "Tell me what _really_ happened. You had a ton of time to figure it out."

"Don't be so impatient," the king informed him. "One day isn't everything. I've only managed to gather that the nanite's coding became corrupted."

Rex fell silent, allowing the words to wash over him like a tidal wave. As someone who'd experienced nanite manipulation before, he knew it wasn't something to be taken lightly. Nanites infiltrated the very DNA of all life on earth, so anything threatening to that degree was certainly a red flag for every EVO in existence.

"Corrupted how?" the child asked, now wide awake. "Why didn't it happen to _us?"  
_  
The older EVO stared at him quietly for a few seconds, then opened his mouth to speak. "Surely you're not that dense? Of _course_ it happened to us. It was the buzzing we felt- at least, according to my theory."

"But we didn't get burned up like Biowulf."

"I suppose I should have been clearer. Biowulf's nanites _succumbed_ to the corruption- hence his pain- but _our_ nanites resisted. Additionally, Breach was affected."

Rex raised a brow. "Wait, what? _Breach? _How do you know about-"

"She told me that she left the site early on because she felt warmer than usual- like a fever," Van Kleiss explained. "Her symptoms were similar to Biowulf's, but at least she could teleport away before she began to suffer. You didn't see her come in because you dozed off. You've been falling asleep on and off for the past two hours, you know."

The teen blinked. "I didn't notice."

"No one truly notices when they've slipped out of consciousness."

"Okay, fine, but you said their nanites were being messed around with. But how come ours _resisted?"  
_  
The king let out a tired sigh and sat up, stretching his arms for a few seconds. "That's the difficult aspect of it. We were spared the torture, yes, but I'm not entirely sure why. However, I do believe it has something to do with the special nature of our nanites combined with our unique genes. You are the only one who can cure EVOs, and I'm the only one who can create them, after all."

Rex shrugged. "I already know I'm awesome. Doesn't answer my question, though. And what was the buzzing we felt?"

"Let me explain this as simply as I can. Our nanites were actively defending us from something we weren't aware of, but not without side effects. These side effects include the buzzing sensation, and the fact that you couldn't create your builds. They refused to listen to your creation commands because they were too occupied with protecting you from dying."

"So we're just immune to whatever happened to Biowulf because our nanites saved us? How does _that_ work?"

"Funny you should ask that, Rex," Van Kleiss began, giving the boy a strange smile. "The only way to find out is to gather some test samples."

An icy feeling settled in the Rex's stomach as soon caught the underlying meaning.

"No!" the teen hissed. "You are NOT sticking your needle fingers in me. It hurt bad enough the _first_ time!"

"Don't be so hesitant," the older EVO insisted, reaching forward to grab the boy's arm. "I could always use a regular syringe, but the results of the experiment won't be as quick to come. I work best on a molecular level, after all. Aren't _you_ the one demanding fast answers?"

"Don't you _dare_ imply that I was asking for it!" Rex shot back, trying to wrestle his arm out of the man's grip. His efforts were fruitless, however- the metal had clamped around his skin like a vice. "It's gonna sting like hell!"

"I'm going to be much gentler than the first day I met you, I assure you," the king informed him. "Besides, what would your _family_ think if they saw you so terrified of such a tiny obstacle?"

The boy froze.

_Pathetic coward.  
_  
"You're... _sick,"_ Rex muttered, dropping his strength to fight. The survivor's guilt had been brought back tenfold- the way he shied away from some some temporary pain to solve Six, Holiday's, and Bobo's deaths was nothing short of shameful. "Do you have _any_ limits? Why do you always have to use my family against me?"

Van Kleiss took the moment to pull the stunned teen back into the chair, grinning. "Because it always works, of course. Haven't you noticed? I _will_ reopen old wounds if necessary."

"I wish I had leverage against _you,"_ the child snapped, clutching the chair's side rails and resigning himself to his fate. If this is what it took to put himself at peace, so be it.

His family didn't deserve a _weakling_.

"You don't _need_ to have leverage against me," the man informed him, hiking up the boy's sleeve. "I'm _helping_ you. You're just afraid of fleeting discomfort. Now, hold still."

Rex inhaled sharply and subconsciously pulled his legs up at the first prick of the needle. He held his breath for a few seconds as he experienced the frighteningly familiar sensation of his nanites slowly draining, biting his lip to prevent himself from yelling anything he might deeply regret later.

However, true to the king's word, the twisted monarch was holding back from purposeful torture. The pain was unpleasant, yes, but it was nothing compared to his first day in Abysus many years ago. To cope, he imagined Holiday sinking in one of her harmless needles when she needed samples.

_"Ow," _the teen groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling a second needle pierce him. "How many- _agh-_ are you gonna stick in?"

"Just these two," an eerily calm voice assured him. "Relax, Rex. You'll be fine."

"Well it _hurts."_

"I know. Lean over and rest your head on the control panel, if it helps. I'm not going to kill you."

The next few moments were filled with nothing but pained silence.

"Alright, that should be enough for now," Van Kleiss finally announced after a few minutes, withdrawing his fingers. "See? You're not reduced to stone."

"I shouldn't have to even _consider_ that as a victory," Rex murmured. "My standards are lower than the Mariana Trench."

"Don't be so dramatic. Now that that's over, I believe you'd like to know more about the nanite corruption? A good distraction might help."

"If Biowulf stayed any longer, he was gonna get cremated from the inside just like all the other dead EVOs there. I already connected the dots."

Van Kleiss glanced at him disappointingly. "Think past that. Think about the _origins_ of the problems."

The teen paused for thought. "Was it a person?"

"It was not any sentient being," the man denied. "At least, not that we know of. But recalling our experience, we _do_ know that the buzzing sensation became stronger as we neared the main room- meaning the danger was _increasing-_ and that's where we found the largest concentration of ashes."

"Of _course_ there were ashes. Everyone got cremated! Unless you mean..."

The king nodded.

"...that they aren't actually ashes," Rex finished, now intrigued once again. "I heard you say that earlier, but I didn't really believe you. What were they, then?"

"They're mostly comprised of burnt organic remains, but they also exposed me to something even I've never seen before."

"Which is?"

"A very _strange_ breed of nanites." 


	9. Chapter 9

Rex groaned loudly.

_"Really?"_ he whined. "You and your unstable beta nanites, and now _this? _Hasn't the world suffered enough?"

Van Kleiss raised a brow. "How pessimistic of you. We already have nanites that do such wonderful things for our planet, so why not improve them?"

"You know _exactly_ why."

"Being afraid of innovation only holds you back, Rex. But if it helps you any, I had nothing to do with the creation of these new ones. In fact, I'm not sure where they came from at all."

"What do they even do?" the boy asked.

The man smirked. "Unfortunately for you, I don't have all the materials I need to show you. I have my theories, but until I am able to perform an experiment, you'll have to remain unaware."

Rex's eyes widened. "What? That's not fair! I waited here _forever!"  
_  
"You were asleep half the time, and _I_ was working for hours on end. If anything, it's _you_ who is behaving like a leech. Remember when I told you your mission would require consistent favors back to me? If you want more information on these nanites, you'll have to _show_ me you're still committed."

"I'm not a leech," the teen muttered. "What do you want from me?"

"If you pull an experiment together for me, I will gladly conduct it for you," the king explained. "First, I will need a larger sample of ashes than the one I have already. The amount I scraped out of Biowulf's fur and claws is simply not enough. Secondly, I will require the nanites of a human being who has never turned EVO. Lastly, I will need a sample of your _own_ nanites."

Rex balked, protectively wrapping his arms around himself immediately. "I already _gave_ you that last part!"

"See? You're already one third of the way there. I need the former two samples, and you'll have the answers you seek."

"Okay, but-"

"You're not doing anything right _now," _Van Kleiss interrupted. "It's nearly twelve, and you should go to bed. You clearly need rest, anyway."

Rex tilted his head and looked right into the king's reddish eyes, trying to find an ulterior motive, or perhaps a subliminal meaning. Unable to stop himself, he yawned, still wondering if the man had any tricks up his sleeve regarding the new turn of events.

"You promise you'll keep your end of the deal?" the boy asked. "Because it won't go easy for you if you're lying to me. I'll make _sure_ of it."

"Ah, so you're beginning to trust me?" the man asked amusedly, not the least bit intimidated. "You wouldn't be asking for such a promise if you weren't."

Rex scoffed at Van Kleiss's words. "No! I'm just... sleep deprived. I spend _way_ too much time around you psychos, and it screws with my brain. Ignore what I said."

But as he tossed and turned in his bed later that night, he found himself unable to follow his own advice.

It was nearly one in the morning, and yet, the child couldn't quite seem to fall asleep. Though he had no problems moving his limbs from time to time, his muscles felt like stiff wood. The tension created from the thoughts in his mind seeped into his physical form, causing his temporary-yet intense- insomnia. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and leaned against the wall, allowing the moonlight from his window to immerse him in its gentle glow.

The return of his grief.

Lately, Rex had managed to keep his darker emotions at bay, and tears soiled his face less and less. Unfortunately, grief had multiple disguises it used to slip back into him. First, it had been outright denial, then a period of debilitating depression, and now, he'd entered a stage of stress induced sleep deprivation. Of course, it hadn't been the first time this had happened. In fact, a certain bottle of sleeping pills had been set up in the kitchen for this particular predicament.

But only Biowulf knew where it was.

Shaking his head, Rex slipped out of bed and grabbed his phone, switching on its flashlight. He then left his room and made his way down the warm hallways, not sure if what he was about to do was insane or necessary. Was it the lack of sleep that made him think Biowulf, in charge of the medication refill, would so readily give up the location of the pills the child needed? Or would the information have to be forced out of him?

The teen held his arm in front of himself and activated his sword, assuring his half asleep mind that he would win a fight against the injured EVO. The light from his phone glinted against the metal haphazardly, making it seem all the more sharp and dangerous- like a weapon that had no business being attached to the limb of a miserable child.

And a hotheaded one at that.

After deactivating his arm and walking ten more minutes, Rex finally reached the entrance of the lab several floors down from his starting position. Truth be told, he hated being even slightly dependent on drugs to keep his peace of mind, but he trudged on nonetheless. Switching the lights on, he entered the chamber, wincing from the sudden brightness. Moments later, he opened the transparent door to enter the other half of the room where Biowulf lay sleeping- and even when unconscious, the blue EVO kept the appearance of a formidable opponent.

The boy crept closer to the EVO's injured body, suddenly rethinking his plans. Was it wise to irritate someone who hated him so much? Was it really the sleep deprivation making him do such a thing, or was it plain foolishness?

But after remembering the experiment he'd been required to set up, he ignored the lingering questions. If he wanted the energy to solve his family's deaths, he needed to sleep, and he needed to sleep _now_.

"Hey... wake up," Rex awkwardly commanded, nudging one of Biowulf's arms with his fingers. "C'mon."

Nothing.

Rex tried again, this time more forcefully. Soon, Biowulf began to rouse, shifting around on the bed before opening his red eyes.

"Where are my sleeping pills?" the child asked quickly, not wanting to stay any longer than he had to. "I haven't seen them since the last refill."

The furry EVO narrowed his eyes immediately. "You... expect me to _help_ you... after what you've done to _me?"_

"I had no _idea_ that was going to happen," the teen retorted, trying to keep his voice low. "Look, I have plans for tomorrow. I'm not asking you to get up. I just want you to tell me where they are so I can go get them myse-"

A sudden slash of dark claws against Rex's chest cut him off, causing him to help in surprise. He stepped away from the large EVO as quickly as he could and placed a hand on the area he'd been scratched. To his shock, the fabric of his shirt had been cut clean through in three identical lines.

"I'm not helping you in the least, brat," Biowulf spat, turning to his side and closing his eyes again. "You're just as delusional as Van Kleiss is. I'll be glad when I see your insomnia tear you up from the inside."

"It wasn't my _fault!"  
_  
"What part of this _wasn't_ your fault?"

The teen faltered for a moment, trying not to feel any sort of guilt for the blue EVO's current state. It wasn't that he wanted to become some emotionless monster, but rather, he felt it wasn't entirely his doing. True, it was _his_ mission that had ended up putting everyone in danger, but how would _he_ have known that? It was wrong of Biowulf to place blame on someone as innocent as Rex...

Wasn't it?

"You're so _stubborn," _the boy insulted, stepping away from the EVO. "You can't even answer a simple question."

"I don't care about your plans," Biowulf scoffed. "They're not my problem. Go suffer somewhere else. Knock yourself out with a hammer if you want to sleep so badly."

"My, how harsh of you."

Rex whipped around to find the king standing at the edge of the doorway of the other half of the room. Biowulf chuckled before turning his head to regain his rest, believing the gauntlet-clad EVO would get rid of the pesky teenager.

"What are you even _doing_ here?" Rex asked irritatedly. He wasn't quite in the mood to deal with two enemies at once. "I wasn't even loud."

Van Kleiss shook his head. "You didn't have to be. I was walking back from my other lab and heard you two regardless. You're not subtle, you know."

"Okay, well, there's nothing to see here. I'm just getting-"

"Nothing to see? Not only are you not subtle, but as I've told you before, you're a terrible liar. Since when have you resorted to outright sabotage so quickly?"

This time, Biowulf lifted his head to watch the two, curious about the man's accusation.

"What are you talking about?" Rex huffed. "I'm not sabotaging anything! I'm just here for my pills. Biowulf just won't tell me where they are."

"And you resorted to drastically slowing down his healing process as revenge? That's remarkably petty of you."

Both Biowulf and the child stared at Van Kleiss, equally confused.

"I'm just going to assume you just hit your head because there is _literally_ no logic behind what you just said," the youngest EVO responded. "I didn't even touch the guy. You can ask him yourself."

Van Kleiss sighed. "Where's your coat, Rex?"

"Why would I need a coat? It's not cold in here."

"And why wouldn't it be? This is one of the coldest chambers in the entire castle- at least, it's _supposed_ to be. Biowulf has no business tampering with the thermostat because it would hurt him, so that leaves you as the culprit."

The teen paused and waved his hands around the in the air, realizing just how unusually warm it was.

"Uh... okay, yeah, that's weird," Rex noted. "But I didn't do it. I didn't even _know_ it wasn't freezing until you pointed that out. It was like that when I got here."

The king frowned. "So despite the fact that this would be revenge that benefits you, you're still trying to convince me that you had nothing to do with-"

A large crash from the halls interrupted Van Kleiss's words, causing him to quiet immediately. He raised a brow at the boy before taking a few steps outside the room to discover the cause of the commotion. Not a minute had passed by before Rex caught sight of pure confusion and alarm in the man's eyes- quite the rarity to observe.

"Rex, Biowulf, leave at once," the king commanded them, his eyes wide. "Don't hesitate."

"Leave the room?" Biowulf asked.

"No. The entire castle. _Now."  
_  
Rex bolted towards the entrance to see what had disturbed Van Kleiss so much, instantly regretting his decision. The sight before him was enough to shatter any trace of sleepiness he had left, causing him to back away immediately. Soon, after managing to escape his bed, even Biowulf experienced the same shock the other two did.

The hallways were on fire.


	10. Chapter 10

"Y'know," Rex began, leaning against a tree, "I'm kind of glad you didn't tell me where the pills are."

Biowulf scoffed. "And conversely, I'm regretting that."

Rex, Biowulf, and Breach stood in the forest of Abysus, watching the castle from a distance. The fire, as it turned out, had spread to at least a quarter of the castle by the time they were aware of it. However, that was hours ago- in the end, only one third of the building was damaged. The three had spent the night in the woods to keep from dying in their sleep, and Van Kleiss was nowhere to be found. The man had instructed them to seek refuge amongst the trees while he returned back to the castle.

It felt strange for Rex, who could be considered somewhat of a city boy, to be sleeping under the stars. Due to his weariness from running rampant through the halls to escape the flames, he fell fast asleep as soon and he had lied down on a particularly mossy boulder- not even his moderate insomnia could stop him. It was barely five in the morning by now, and yet, he could still observe the strangeness in the skies above. Just like in the day, the night sky was tinted with an eerie shade of red- though, it was extremely diluted in the overall blackness.

Biowulf was, of course, still angry with the teen- but currently more distracted with their temporary homelessness. He'd taken care to avoid Rex out of disgust, not wishing to start a fight in his injured state. Breach, on the other hand, seemed deadpanned, staring at the castle with a blank face that could rival poker champions from around the world. It was almost as if she couldn't comprehend what was happening, and at the same time, as if she couldn't care less.

"When do you think Van Kleiss is gonna come back?" Rex asked no one in particular, stifling a yawn. "He's been in there all night. Does he ever sleep?"

"Stop talking," the mechanical EVO near him commanded, his limbs dangling from the tree branches he'd slept on that night. "You never have anything important to say. It's just mindless droning."

Breach giggled.

Rex rolled his eyes. "It _is_ important. Like, what if he died in the fire? You think we could escape?"

"He's not dead, idiot," Biowulf retorted. "It takes more than a mere fire to kill someone like him. Besides, the castle isn't in danger anymore. Pay _attention."_

The blue EVO's words rang true. When they'd awoken half an hour ago, no signs of the flames could be seen- at least, from a distance. The structure hadn't crumbled, and the castle appeared to have been saved. The king, however, was nowhere in sight.

"Doesn't matter," the boy continued. "Even if the fire's been doused, I still don't want to go back. There's someone- or _something _sadistic in there that tried to kill us yesterday."

"You have plenty of enemies that can, by _all_ means, take you away," Biowulf snorted. "Though, I don't know who's particularly after _me_. I'm not too prominent a figure."

"Doesn't that bother you? Don't you want to be a _little_ famous?"

"No, Rex. We're not all as desperate for attention as you are."

Breach cleared her throat. "He's _baaaack."_

The two males of the group glanced towards the direction of a group of trees about twenty yards away, watching Van Kleiss emerge from the foliage. His facial expression appeared to be weary, though there seemed to be a glint of frustration in his eyes. Seeing as how the castle appeared to be intact, it was unusual to see a lack of satisfaction on his face- then again, the inside of the building wasn't visible to them. For all they knew, every room might have been burned to a crisp.

"Master, what was the cause of the fire?" Biowulf asked, leaning forward. "Are you... alright?"

"I'm just fine," the king answered, eyeing the EVO in the tree. "Come down from there. We're returning."

Rex raised a brow. "_No_. I'm not dying first thing in the morning."

"You don't have a choice," the man replied, furrowing his brows. A dark look formed in the older EVO's eyes. "Be a little cooperative."

The teen stepped back, sensing something was amiss. He'd seen Van Kleiss outright angry before, but this time, it was a much subtler touch. If anything, that made his mood all the more dangerous.

"It's still hot," Breach sighed, fanning her face with a leaf she'd plucked from a nearby tree. "It's an oven out here."

"I had to send in the Hydrants to fix the mess," the gauntlet-clad EVO informed them. "At least twenty. Do you realize how much effort that took, _Breach?"_

"Hydrant?" Rex asked.

"A specific type of EVO that evolved from camels. They have the ability to expunge water from their bodies when needed. By the gallons, might I add. Quite useful for a disaster like this."

"Cool, I guess," the boy responded. "But there's still something inside that could kill us. There's no way that fire was a coincidence after we came back from Providence."

Van Kleiss retained a cold look on his face, staring eerily into the distance. "Rex, while I'm glad you decided to start using your head, this isn't the time to voice it. I have another matter on my hands."

"We should check for any lasting injuries," Biowulf piped up, familiar with the duty of scanning wounds after fights. "I only have slight scratches, and the child... appears to be alright, judging by his usual nagging. Breach?"

The girl in question frowned, then slipped up her sleeves. Reddish marks littered her forearms, as well as a few blisters around her elbows. She then fluffed up her skirt, exposing scorched areas of fabric that she'd successfully hidden between the pleats. Rex's eyes widened as he suddenly counted himself lucky for not receiving as many injuries.

"It really does hurt," Breach revealed, curiously walking towards the king. "Do you have burn cream? Ice? Is there any left in the-"

Van Kleiss struck her head violently with his metal arm, knocking her out instantly.

Biowulf flinched, suddenly reminded of the fate of Skalamander. Rex stared in shock, scrambling up a tree when the man's gaze soon fell upon him. When the king began to walk towards him as well, he tried climbing even higher into the branches, unwilling to be anywhere near the gauntlet-clad EVO below. Ignoring his collar, he prepared his nanites for flight. Van Kleiss had clearly gone insane for absolutely no reason, and it was best to-

"I'm not going to hurt you, Rex. Come down."

The teenager stared down at the older EVO below, activating his wings in an instant. "Liar! You just went ballistic and put Breach in a coma! Who says you're not gonna do the same to _me?"_

The king sighed. "_I_ do, because _you're_ not the one that set the castle on fire."

Rex fell silent.

Biowulf stared at his master incredulously. "_She_ did that? How did you find out?"

"Some of my experiments in the deeper labs are under constant watch by cameras," Van Kleiss explained. "They caught the girl lighting up matches and pouring fuel on the floor. I was just as surprised as you are."

Slowly, the boy slid down the tree and deactivated his wings, though still on edge from the sudden turn of events. "So _that's_ why you looked murderous."

"What are we going to do with her?" Biowulf asked. "Are you going to extract her nanites before we bury her?"

The man shook his head. "That wouldn't lead us anywhere. I want to know her _motives_. She's not in a coma as Rex has so ignorantly stated- she's merely unconscious. When she comes to, she'll be tied down and forced to answer our questions."

"Like a CIA interrogation," the youngest EVO pointed out. "We're not gonna waterboard her, are we?"

The older EVOs glanced at the teen.

"Yes, Rex, that's _exactly_ what we're going to do," Van Kleiss responded, the sarcasm in his tone ever so subtle. "Bring the water and the wood. In fact, we'll make a pyre so we can burn her alive if she refuses to listen."

"That's twisted!" the boy shot back. "Even if you're just making a creepy joke, I know _exactly_ what you're capable of. You probably _would_ burn someone alive if you had the chance to."

"You're only scaring yourself, Rex. With thoughts like those, it's no wonder you couldn't sleep."

Rex rolled his eyes. "Oh, so _now_ you believe me about the pills? Figures. And by the way, I'm still not going anywhere _near_ that castle. I want to relocate."

"We aren't going to relocate. Most of the castle wasn't destroyed. It was merely the various labs- and I _will_ be harsh on Breach if she doesn't have a good reason to defend herself with. Biowulf, gather some vines and tie her against a tree. I'll restrict her powers as best as I can."

After about half an hour, Breach began to stir. All six of her limbs were tightly restricted against the trunk of a mutated oak. Feeling dizzy from the impact on her head, she blinked a couple of times to regain her vision. The first thing she saw were the three blurry figures of her captors, standing over her like a group of hitmen.

"I'm in trouble," she whispered, dreading torture.

Van Kleiss nodded. "You will learn the _true_ meaning of the word if you don't explain your motives at once."

"_Yeah_, Breach," Rex chimed in. "Why did you try to kill us?"

"I wasn't trying to kill anyone," the girl denied. "Just burn the place down."

"That's literally not any better."

"That's not how you use that w-"

A rough kick to the child's stomach cut her sentence off instantly, causing her to wheeze. The black boot of her leader then removed itself from her vital organs, as if giving her a second chance.

"It's bad enough working with you in your _normal_ state of mind- if you can even _call_ it that," the king seethed, his eyes flashing with traces of rage. "You nearly destroyed countless experiments, including Rex's. You set half the medical supplies ablaze. _Who_ are you working for, Breach? Who is idiotic enough to trifle with me?"

"I don't... know."

The three males stared in confusion, watching the girl's face for any hints of betrayal. Instead of finding barely restrained signs of fibbing, she only seemed hurt by what they'd done to her. Biowulf was the first to break the silence, feeling a bit sorry for her, though just as mystified as the others.

"How can you be working for someone you don't know?" the blue EVO asked. "You're not making sense... though that's not new."

"I heard voices telling me to do it," Breach revealed, her head drooping in shame. "No one was around. They told me to light the place up or else they'd take me away."

Rex shook his head. "She's officially lost it. Even more than before."

"I'm not lying!" the girl yelled at him, straining against the vines. "They talked to me! They told me to listen to them! They-"

"That's _enough_," Van Kleiss interrupted, wrapping a vine over her mouth to gag her. "Even I'm not sure what to make of this. She's not exactly the epitome of sanity-"

"And neither are you," Rex muttered under his breath.

"- but I can't simply write off every word she says, however much I _want_ to," the man continued, giving the boy a light pinch. "Rex, since I assume you know where the elevator is, I want you to take Breach down to the seventh floor where the cells are."

The child pushed the man's hand away immediately. "_Ow."_

"Be polite."

"Ugh, I'm so _tired_ of you people," the teen groaned, undoing the vines around the frustrated girl and guiding her towards the direction of the castle. "Breach, you picked the _worst_ day to go full arsonist."


	11. Chapter 11

Rex stared at the girl before her, watching as she sat quietly behind the bars of the cell. The dim fires of the torches surrounding them illuminated her messy dark hair and tear streaked face, highlighting her misery in refined detail. She'd spent the entire day cooped up against her will, her loneliness only interrupted by the boy bringing her three daily meals. Van Kleiss, meanwhile, had spent the day leading the EVOs of Abysus to fix whatever parts of the castle that shed damaged.

Breach had made no resistance when he had pushed her into the cage-like structure earlier that morning, but instead of making it easier for him, it only made his stomach toss and turn. Something was very wrong about people who suffered abuse and didn't lift a finger to stop it. How damaged _was_ Breach, exactly? Was her pathetically submissive behavior a testament to the psychological torture of living with Van Kleiss?

Then again... had she _really_ suffered abuse?

Rex has been disturbed when he saw the man kick her into unconsciousness, but he couldn't pretend he was without cause. The dollkeeper admitted to pulling a stunt that nearly killed them all, and if it wasn't for his bout of insomnia, he might have not survived. Breach wasn't the type to make sense often, so it wasn't irrational to assume that she might have done similar deadly acts of sabotage before. However, even _that_ was an uncomfortable thought for the boy. If Breach was regularly as dangerous as she was that night, it would give Van Kleiss some justification for his harsh behavior.

Though torn between two points of view, he didn't want to legitimize any of them. After all, both of them had gone through great lengths to hurt him in the past.

"You're free to leave, Rex."

The teen twisted his head around, finding the gauntlet clad EVO entering the room with a small notepad and pen. The man seemed much more content than when he had returned to them before, likely due to Breach's imprisonment.

"What are you doing, a therapy session?" Rex asked half mockingly. "Last I checked, you're not a psychiatrist."

"No, but I have extensive knowledge of the human body and mind. It's why I was a bio mechanical integration expert at the nanite project, and it's also why I know how to deal with _you."_

"You don't know how to deal with me."

"Is that so? You've calmed down considerably from when you first arrived, and you're speaking to me without attacking on sight. I consider that progress."

Rex snorted. "Tolerating you is the furthest I'll go. You're just using me, and you know I'm just using you."

"We're not that parasitic," Van Kleiss murmured, making a quick note on the pad. "Regardless of what you think, you may go now. This is a private session between Breach and I, so occupy yourself somewhere else."

"I wanna stay."

The man glanced up. "What?"

"I want to see what Breach is gonna say about the fire," the boy explained, wondering why he needed to elaborate in the first place. "It's my business too. I was almost burned alive."

"You misunderstand, Rex. I'm not _asking_ you to leave, I'm _commanding_ you to."

A baffled expression spread across the younger EVO's features. _"Why? _It's my right to know! You can't just kick me out! You selfish _prick!"_

"Watch your tone. You will know what she has said about her intentions, but only _after_ I filter her words out. Like it or not, there are some things about life in Abysus that you aren't meant to know. I will have you forcefully removed if you push me towards it, so I suggest you go."

Rex stood there, stunned. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why he wasn't allowed to stay. What could the man possibly need to filter out? Was Breach known to use words far more coarse than his own? Was the king hiding something just between him and the girl- no, that thought was too sickening to consider. Were the two merely putting up acts and conspiring against him using the fire? Could they be concocting _new_ plans to murder him?

No, somehow that didn't make much sense. If Van Kleiss wanted him dead, he could have easily killed the boy in his sleep, or even while awake after removing his powers. Still, the command had disturbed him, causing his thoughts to immediately darken to the worst of scenarios.

While practically drowning in his own mind, he didn't even notice the man casually pushing him out of the room.

"Don't come back until I say you can," the older EVO commanded, shutting the door on his face. "Read a book. Do _something."_

Rex scowled as he stood in the darkness of the seventh floor, musty air filling his senses and causing him to yearn for fresh air. With an angry huff, he spun on his heels and whipped around towards the direction of the elevator, determined to find a workaround. One way or another, he was going to find out _exactly_ what was hidden from him.

"He's going to come back," Breach weakly muttered, watching as the man pulled up a chair to face her. "Don't you know that?"

Van Kleiss rolled his eyes. "Of course I do. I don't expect him to listen to me. And as for _you_..."

Meanwhile, Rex paced back and forth across the kitchen, debating with himself on how to gain access to the forbidden knowledge. At first, he believed he could simply walk back down and eavesdrop behind the door, but that would leave him defenseless if he was caught. In other words, he needed an excuse in case he was discovered.

But what?

He couldn't complain about the lack of food, since ironically, the kitchen wasn't touched by the fire. Neither could he report Biowulf for abusive behavior since the blue EVO was already sleeping. He couldn't even claim he'd accidentally left anything anything in the room, as he'd entered empty handed. Try as he might, it was tough to figure out a way to get back in, and like his insomnia, the frustration would keep him up all night-

Wait.

_Insomnia_.

Rex smiled and quickly left the kitchen, realizing that he hadn't received his pills from Biowulf from before the fire. Hurrying down the halls, he pondered his newfound fib. Faking insomnia should be easy enough- after all, it wasn't as if it was impossible in his current state. As long as he kept quiet behind the door, he might not even have to go that far. The most important thing right now was to gleam as much information from his enemies' conversation as possible.

Taking the elevator down to the dark floor once again, he paused for thought. It suddenly occurred to him that just because he would be able to learn something from them, it didn't mean that he would feel comfortable with it. In fact, it could shake him to his core. It would be cruel irony for someone pretending to be unable to sleep to have the ability actually stolen from him.

He'd have to mentally prepare himself.

As he exited the double doors and creeped closer towards the forbidden room, the voices from the cell room soon reached his ears, causing him to soften his footsteps. He began to wonder if Breach was okay.

"...lives in the walls..."

"...psychotic delusions..."

"...in Rex's room..."

At the mention of his name, the boy tilted his head, his attention quickly drawn to the dark door before him. Pressing his ear against the wood, he tried to make out what they were saying about him. There was an eerie calmness to their words, as if a spell had been cast. He didn't know what he expected, really. Violence was, of course, an option, but none seemed to be occurring.

"...punished severely..."

"... Skalamander's demise..."

Rex raised a brow, caught off guard. As far as he knew, the crystal-shooting EVO had died in a tragic accident involving bugs. Ants, weren't they? He couldn't quite remember. What did Skalamander have to do with punishments? In fact, what did he have to do with their situation altogether?

For a moment, the teen entertained the possibility of Skalamander still being alive. After all, the only one who informed him of the EVO's death was the king, and perhaps he'd been too quick to believe him...

"... all EVOs need to be _slaughtered_..."

Chills went through Rex's spine as he heard the bizarre words suddenly come from Breach's mouth, his eyes widening in disgust. It sounded less like something the ditzy girl would normally say, and more like something White Knight would cruelly emphasize. Listening at the sudden silicone through the door, he could hear absolutely nothing, indicating that Van Kleiss had been taken aback as well. The pin drop silence continued for a few more minutes- until the boy pushed against the door a little _too_ hard.

The door creaked open immediately, revealing his location and destroying his personal spy mission on the spot. The boy watches as two pairs of eyes turned towards him- one a gloomy green, and the other an agitated red. The king let out a frustrated sigh and stood up, walking over to the boy after motioning for Breach to remain silent.

"Give me one good reason I shouldn't knock you out for disobeying me," Van Kleiss demanded. "Perhaps I should keep _you_ in a cell as well."

Rex gave him a half grin. "That's actually, uh, why I'm here."

"What are you on about?"

"I need my pills, remember? Biowulf didn't tell me where they were before the fire happened, and I can't sleep. I _want_ to be knocked out, just not by taking a punch."

The man stared at him for a moment, trying to find traces of a lie on the younger EVO's face. So far, Rex seemed to be telling the truth about the previous events.

"And where is Biowulf?" the king asked irritatedly.

The teen feigned disappointment. "He's sleeping, and I don't want to wake him up. He's really mad at me right now, and plus, he's still healing."

"I don't blame him. Fine. Stay here. He needs to recover, so I'll get them for you. Do _not_ bother me again."

Rex watched as the man left the room, then shifted his gaze towards Breach. The girl didn't appear to be physically harmed, so he supposed it really was some sort of simple therapy session going on with her. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something very off about her. Her eyes were glassy, as if she had been robbed of emotion. She had made nihilistic comments against EVOs, despite being one herself. She was clearly on some other mental level he wasn't sure he ever wanted to visit.

Had she become radicalized?

"Why did you try to burn down the place?" the boy asked her. "What was the purpose? To kill EVOs?"

She nodded.

"You know you're one _too,_ right?"

She nodded.

"So would you have burned yourself alive with us?"

Breach sighed. "No."

"What makes _you_ so special?"

"I'm the lesser evil."

At this, Rex's temper flared. He couldn't understand the audacity of this maniacal girl in La La Land to believe she was superior to him. Where could she have possibly come up with a conclusion like that? _He_ saved the world countless times, and deserved to be recognized for it.

Breach gave him a sorrowful look, as if sensing his thoughts. "That's only what the voices told me. These aren't my thoughts. They're _theirs."_

"Yeah, _right._ You're probably just trying to blame people that don't even exist."

The girl winced. "They're _real."_

"Okay, so why do they think _you're_ the lesser evil?"

"Because I'm the one getting rid of EVOs."

"That's- _mmph!"_

"That's enough of your pathetic attempt at an interrogation," Van Kleiss interrupted, clamping his hand over the boy's mouth and dragging him backwards. "You don't know what to say at all, do you?"

Rex, surprised to find the older EVO suddenly behind him, pulled himself away. "Stop it!"

"Come here for a second."

The king dragged the boy out the room, then shut the door behind himself. The two stood quietly in the dark hallways, barely illuminated by the light from Breach's cell room. Rex slowly backed away from the man and into a wall, his dark eyes warily staring into the older EVO's lighter ones. The moss covering the stones behind him felt soft beneath his fingers, but it wasn't enough to calm him down.

"Here, take them," Van Kleiss said, his tone strangely calm while handing the boy a small bottle of pills. His eyes glinted with an expression the younger EVO couldn't quite label.

Rex hesitantly accepted them, more focused on the strange look on his enemy's face. After growing increasingly perplexed by the king's sudden gentle demeanor, he glanced down at the bottle in his hands. At first, the labels and tiny pictures seemed to be no different from the previous bottle he'd finished just a few nights before, but his sharp sight quickly taught him otherwise.

If he twisted his wrists just right, the small sliver of lighting from the edges of the doorframe traced the circumference of the container like a barcode scanner, revealing a very different medication entirely. His eyes widened as he realized the brand and drug name were nothing like what he'd seen before. Some of the fine print was smudged, but judging by what he could glean from the intended usage, taking just _one_ would cause a six hour blackout- and he wasn't sure he was prepared to read the side effects following them.

Were these even sleeping pills at all?

Rex shuddered to think of what his enemy's true intentions were.

"Right... okay," the teen spoke up, careful not to actually thank the man for doing something downright insidious. "I'll just take these to my room and sleep. Bye."

If Rex managed to throw the bizarre new "medication" away as fast as possible, he'd be saved from what might very well be a lethal poison. The second option was to leave it opened by his bedside with two pills missing, just in case Van Kleiss wanted to make sure he took some. That way, he could at least stuff his blankets with pillows to imitate his figure and run while he still had a chance.

However, it was almost as if the older EVO could read his thoughts. Before the child could tuck the pills beneath his jacket and return to the elevator, he felt a hand firmly grab his shoulder.

"Oh, but just to make _sure_ those are your true intentions, I want to see you take two," Van Kleiss insisted. "Right in front of me."

Rex froze. "I said I'll take them in my room."

"That's not what I asked you to do."

The teen stared down at the drugs in his palm, then spun around and glared at the king. "Okay, let's cut the crap. These aren't my usual pills. I read the label. You're trying to _murder_ me."

Van Kleiss tilted his head, a mischievous smile forming on his face. "Even in this darkness, you noticed? I'm impressed."

"I'm not as stupid as you think I am."

"You're still going to take them."

Rex balked. "What? No! We're going to fight right here, right _now! _You just tried to _kill _me!"

"Again with your paranoia, Rex," the man sighed, his smirk faltering. "If I wanted you dead, you would have been deceased ages ago. Yes, these pills are different, but they're _not_ meant to kill. Your specific dosage will just cause you to blackout for at least twelve hours."

"You lied to me and expect me to _believe_ you?"

"I merely omitted information. That's nowhere near the same as outright lying."

The boy scoffed. "Gee, where have I heard _that_ before? It's like your motif by now!"

"Yes, and _you_ omitted the fact that you came back to spy on our conversation instead of actually having insomnia. I'm not as oblivious as you think I am either, and you're just as guilty of my "crime". Stop overreacting, and take the pills like you're supposed to. _Now."_

"I know you're going to do something evil once I'm out cold," the younger EVO huffed, dropping the bottle and letting it roll across the floor. "I have no guarantee you won't remove my arms or something. Just because you won't _kill_ me doesn't mean you won't brutally torture me!"

Van Kleiss fell silent for a few minutes, feeling both annoyed at the child, yet also slightly sorry for him. If Rex didn't calm down enough for a simple task like this, he would soon break from stress- and it would be a shame for such a young mind to be lost. A shame for the boy at a very influenceable age, and a shame for the man who would attempt to mold him however he saw fit.

But there was no use in molding a broken mind.

Van Kleiss slowly raised his gauntlet, let it glow, then activated a clicking sound. "I shouldn't have to resort to this."

Rex frowned. "What was that?"

"The sound of all your powers and healing abilities being deactivated."

The boy immediately felt a surge in his system, likely a drastic increase in his biometric levels. His head swam and he felt nauseous, and he could have sworn he experienced tingles in his bones. Glowing blue lines branched our across his body, the streams of machinery coursing through them so intense that his entire body felt like it was buzzing. Then, just as soon as the sensations came, they went, leaving him breathless. The only evidence of the event was the lingering heat from the thin collar wrapped around his neck, no doubt activated by the gauntlet before him.

Rex spat the worst curses he could think of at the moment and gripped the wall tighter, shooting daggers with his eyes. The king merely ignored his venomous words and watched as the child swung a fist at him, casually stepping to the side and dodging. The younger EVO then attempted a vicious kick, only to dig his feet into thin air to lose his own balance and crash to the floor. He didn't give up yet, though. The next five minutes consisted of attacks where Rex barely held back, and his enemy staying on defense instead switching to offense. Once or twice, he managed to land a good hit, but the odds were not in his favor.

Eventually, Van Kleiss roughly shoved him against the wall and forced his boot onto the child's chest, tired of Rex not taking a hint.

Enough was enough.

"You can't even fight me without your metal arm, you _coward,"_ the boy snarled, feeling the footwear dig against his skin and restrict his breathing. "You're only winning because I only slept for three hours last night! I could be chopped into pieces right now, and-"

"But you _aren't," _Van Kleiss interrupted. "Here you are, powerless even _without_ the pills, and yet you're still alive and breathing- and with all your limbs attached, I might add."

The child huffed. "So? What's your point?"

"Stop pretending to be dense. You know exactly what my point is."

It took a few seconds for the pieces to click together in Rex' frazzled mind, but once they did, it only angered him further.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I supposed to _trust_ you now just because you haven't decapitated me yet?" the boy yelled. "In case you forgot, you literally just stole my powers! Give them _back!"_

Van Kleiss grinned. "Only if you take the pills."

The teen stared at him, completely at a loss for words.

To make himself seem slightly less intimidating, the king reduced the pressure on the younger EVO's chest. "Since you're not going to trust me on your own, I have no choice but to force you. If you want your abilities back, you'll need to have a little faith in me and take the pills. If you don't, I'll leave you with disengaged nanites for a month."

When he received no answer from the boy, the man leaned closer, his grin widening. "Biowulf will completely heal in a few days."

Rex remained silent, but the voices in his head were anything but. Some of them screamed that the pills would surely be the death of him, and that it was best to take his chances with the blue EVO. Others argued that if the older EVO was telling the truth, being defenseless in Abysus would be his demise instead. If he died now, he would never find out what happened to his family, and that would be the worst consequence of all.

Rex narrowed his eyes, pushing as much of his ego away as he could. "You... ugh... _fine_. I'll _take_ them."

"A simple _"you win"_ would have sufficed."

The boy felt his enemy's foot lift itself off his chest, then rubbed the area to relax his muscles. He then picked up the bottle from the floor and slowly twisted the cap, waiting for it to slide into the right position for it to be popped off. Van Kleiss watched in satisfaction, glad he was finally getting somewhere.

The teen paused, then glanced at the door behind them. "Wait."

The king raised a brow, but said nothing.

"Since I'm already doing this, I'm going all in," Rex stated, staring down at the container. "If you actually want me to somewhat trust you, promise me one more thing."

"_I'll_ decide if I want to accept your request."

"Don't kill Breach."

Van Kleiss shook his head in confusion. "She nearly killed you, and on _purpose_, no less. Why do you care about her right now?"

"I know what she did, but we both know she's a headcase, so it might not be all her fault. That, and I was never trained to kill EVOs. That was more of... Six's thing. It just doesn't feel right to me to let someone die when we don't know the whole situation."

The king scoffed. "Providence's influence is making _you_ a headcase."

"Is that a yes or a no? I'm doing what you told me to, so take this seriously!"

"Just to ease your fears and paranoia regarding me, I'll do my best to not kill her," Van Kleiss sighed. "Now, get on with it. You don't have all night, and tomorrow, you have to deliver me a sample of normal human blood if you want some answers about your predicament."

At the mention of the next step of his mission, Rex felt a little relieved at the fact that he might live after all. One by one, he took the appropriate number of pills, swallowing quickly to prevent himself from tasting their bitter flavor.

"How long do I have before I'm out?" the boy asked, glancing towards the elevator.

"Around five minutes. I suggest you run."

Those were the last words Rex heard that night.


End file.
